Sprint announced the upcoming launch in mid-November of Sprint
Mobile Wallet, a secure way to buy physical and digital
products using a Sprint phone. They claim that Sprint
Mobile Wallet also will make it
easier for developers to monetize their products.
Sprint
Mobile Wallet is the first mobile payment solution of its kind
from a U.S. carrier. It allows customers to use a universal PIN from their phone in order to make
purchases using their Visa, MasterCard and Amazon Payments accounts,
along with other payment methods. There's no need
to enter credit card information with every purchase. Customers just
select Sprint Mobile Wallet at checkout, enter their PIN, and choose
their payment method or account from those saved in the Sprint Mobile
Wallet.
This new capability is different than carrier billing. With the Sprint
Mobile Wallet, Sprint is providing a safe, secure "container" for
customers to easily use traditional payment methods while on-the-go. Sprint partner CardinalCommerce,
a leader in enabling authenticated payments and currently facilitating
millions of transactions online every month, hosts the secure
transactions. Once customers enter their PIN, it is encrypted and sent
to CardinalCommerce, whose technology enables the transaction between
the customer and the merchant.
Thousands of merchants use CardinalCommerce for online payments and
would have the option to easily accept Sprint Mobile Wallet. Merchants
who plan to accept Sprint
Mobile Wallet include SkyMall, Gameloft and
Namco, with more coming soon. Sprint
Mobile Wallet will be available on
a variety of Sprint devices and can be used at no additional charge by
customers on an Everything Data plan. Initially, Sprint
Mobile Wallett
will be available to download through Sprint Zone. In 2011, it will be
preloaded on many new Sprint devices.
For the developer community, Sprint
Mobile Wallet enables developers to
set up commerce more easily and quickly with one simple integration to
the Sprint
Mobile Wallet service, avoiding the need to integrate
directly with each payment company. Once integrated, developers and
merchants generally can provide a simple purchase experience to most
any Sprint subscriber without the need to fill forms and input payment
data. Developers can also use Sprint
Mobile Wallet within their apps and
take advantage of another way to monetize their apps outside the
controlled walls of an app store. Developers will be able to learn more
during the conference and also through the developer
site.