While largely unused to this point NFC payment systems will undoubtedly be a focus for banks and mobile carriers alike in the coming years as mobile technology and banking continue to progress. Rogers’ Suretap service launched last year with limited success and limited functionality. There was only one platform that could support it, it was not widely available in retail outlets and you had to be a CIBC customer. All of those limitations appear to be dissipating with these new developments.
Today, March 20th, Rogers announced that Suretap has been approved for use on LG’s Optimus G, Samsung’s Galaxy S III as well as the Note II. This brings the Suretap system to the Android platform, which surely was only a matter of time. On top of expanding device compatibility Rogers announced that the certification of these devices allows other banks to develop mobile payment systems that utilize Suretap.
Backed by MasterCard’s Paypass and Visa’s payWave infrastructure of wireless payment terminals Suretap users should have relative ease finding stores that accept it. Any users wishing to adopt this service will have to get a secure sim card and for the moment either be a customer of CIBC or wait until their bank releases their own setup.
Personally any excuse to reduce the size of my wallet/take away the need for it all together is a welcome one. However I rarely use my credit card for every day purchases and can’t see myself using Suretap or a similar service unless it supports debit transactions. This also makes me wonder what the future holds for the lightly used but highly useful Zoompass. You can check out the press release here.
How about your own excitement or apprehensions towards mobile payment via Android?