Deutsche Telekom has unveiled an NFC mobile wallet in Germany, enabling customers to make low value contactless payments at MasterCard PayPass terminals by using an app, the digital payment card and an NFC sticker.The company announced that on an international level will launch more mobile payment products this year. Slovakia and Hungary will follow soon.
In addition to payments, other services will also become digital. „In the future, our customers will not only use their digital wallets to make easy, secure payments, but also store concert tickets, membership cards or bonus points,” says Michael Hagspihl, Director of Marketing at Telekom Deutschland. „All customers who sign up for mobile payments with the MyWallet Card now will get an introductory bonus of up to EUR 40.”
MyWallet can be downloaded as a free app from the Google Play Store. The app already turns 18 smartphone models(1) from Samsung and Sony into digital wallets. „As a result, more than two million Deutsche Telekom customers in Germany already have the technology for mobile payment,” says Thomas Kiessling, Chief Product & Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. „And also on an international level we will launch mobile payment products this year. In Slovakia we will introduce our payment solution mid-May. In Hungary – after a test phase with services like payment and ticketing – a commercial launch is also planned for this year.”
In addition to the app and a MyWallet-capable Android smartphone from Deutsche Telekom, customers need an NFC-enabled SIM card to use the digital wallet. The SIM card serves as a secure data safe for the payment data and will be shipped with every new MyWallet-capable smartphone starting now. Deutsche Telekom customers who already use a suitable smartphone can order the NFC SIM card free of charge.
The first MyWallet service is a payment card. The MyWallet Card is a prepaid MasterCard. Users can pay at more than 35,000 PayPass merchants throughout Germany and more than 1.6 million merchants worldwide. Participating chains in Germany include Starbucks, Aral, Douglas, Kaufhof, Thalia, Vapiano and the Telekom Shops. The issuer of the MyWallet Card is ClickandBuy International Limited, London, a Deutsche Telekom subsidiary.
The launch of additional offerings for MyWallet is planned for this summer: among others, a cooperation with Tank und Rast, which will enable payments with MyWallet and other contactless payment systems at 400 highway rest stops throughout Germany. Starting in June, it will be possible to store digital coupons from supermarket chains Hit and Edeka using MyWallet.
Mobile payments aren’t limited to the above Android smartphones, either: users of other mobile phones and even other operating systems – such as iOS, Windows Phone and Firefox OS – can also use the MyWallet Card the way they would use a conventional plastic card, with an NFC tag. The NFC tag is attached to the back of the phone and replaces the NFC antenna.
Customers also receive a plastic card, so they can pay with MyWallet in locations that do not yet have NFC terminals.
The Card Check app gives users a fast, simple overview of all their transactions (credits and debits) made with the MyWallet Card. The app is available free of charge from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
Deutsche Telekom has chosen Bonn as a flagship city for supplying terminals for mobile payments. The city already has nearly 1,000 acceptance points in restaurants, shops and filling stations. In addition, special promotions and deals will become available in Bonn’s restaurants and businesses in the coming months.
This trend is underscored by a survey that TNS Infratest conducted among 1,000 residents of Germany in 2012, on behalf of Deutsche Telekom:
– Two-thirds of those surveyed said: mobile payment will become established.
– 38 percent believe that mobile payment will become part of our everyday lives within three years.
– 40 percent can imagine using mobile payment services.
– 43 percent of retail outlets expect a sharp increase in mobile payment within two to three years.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
