Visa confirms iPhone payment service

Visa iPhone yes that'll do nicely. Visa turns your iPhone into a very expensive Oyster card

As we reported a few weeks ago Visa will be launching a NFC (Near Field Communication) add-on for the iPhone to allow iPhone users to simply flash their phone to pay for goods, get into buildings, and travel. The Visa device is an external case that plugs into the bottom of the iPhone via the dock connector and allows iPhone users to simply flash their phone near a reader to pay for goods.

The protective case is designed to host a microSD based contactless apps turning the iPhone into a Visa mobile payment device. The solution is designed to enable iPhone users to make contactless transactions, such as Visa mobile payments, by simply waving the iPhone in front of a contactless payment terminal.

The solution combines DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD technology with a specially designed, patent-pending protective case that adds mobile contactless capability and works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

By placing a removable In2Pay microSD into the protective case, iPhone users can take advantage of In2Pay’s secure contactless capabilities where contactless transactions are offered. They range from buying goods in retail stores and at unattended kiosks, to travel ticketing, and even securely accessing buildings and computers networks. Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010.

“The more than 200,000 apps on the App Store are an integral part of iPhone users’ lives.” said Amitaabh Malhotra, COO, DeviceFidelity. “With our In2Pay solution, we want to give both iPhone users and app developers the power to do even more, by putting the convenience of interactive secure mobile transactions, right at their fingertips, anywhere they are.”

DeviceFidelity and Visa collaborated to combine Visa’s contactless payment technology, Visa payWave, and In2Pay technology to transform a mobile phone with a microSD memory slot into a mobile contactless payment device. Today’s announcement extends this functionality to iPhone and has the potential to accelerate the adoption of mobile contactless payments globally, especially in geographies where merchants have already upgraded payment terminals to accept contactless transactions.

“Visa is working to bring the security and convenience of digital currency to mobile users around the world,” said Dave Wentker, Head of Mobile Contactless Payments at Visa Inc. “Our collaboration with DeviceFidelity can extend the reach of Visa mobile payments to millions of iPhone users.”

No mention of a 4G version??