Moneto launches in the UK

Fifth Dimension is pleased to announce the launch of Moneto in the UK – promising to bring faster, more convenient payments to your mobile phone.

Moneto is the brainchild of US based Device Fidelity, and neatly converts smart phones into NFC enabled devices – either through a case for Apple’s iPhone, or direct with a replaceable MicroSD card for Android devices. The accompany app then provides access to an electronic wallet which allows for payments simply by tapping the phone to a contactless reader in store.

Moneto allows users to convert their smart phone to a contactless payment device!

For online transactions or where retailers do not support contactless, then an accompanying prepaid MasterCard allows the user to make their payment – with funds being accessed from the same account.

Moneto has partnered with UK based issuer, Kalixa, to provide the prepaid MasterCard and e-wallet that sits behind the Moneto app.

What we think is best about the concept is the pure simplicity of it. There’s been much hype about NFC and mobile payments and while there are plans among some mobile operators to enable similar technology, Moneto is truly agnostic. So regardless of who you bank with, or your mobile contract, you can simply buy your case and Moneto card and start making payments immediately.

To find out more, visit: www.moneto.co.uk

Is Barclaycard PayTag stealing a march on PayPal

In their post on Friday, the Tamebay website suggests that PayTag, the NFC sticker solution from Barclaycard was getting one over on PayPal by getting consumers used to the idea of paying with their mobile phone - though clearly, the user has to make the connection of actually fixing the sticker to their mobile.

Barclays PayTag is not really a mobile contactless payment
option ...it's basically just a sticker

It's all part of the hotbed of discussion that is NFC - will it, won't it ...and so often biased towards whatever Apple say or do. While Barclays have clearly been championing NFC with their contactless TV campaign, and following on with PayTag, it seems a great shame that they couldn't actually follow this through with a real mobile NFC product.

 
The PayTag solution is so limited and lacks any sophisticiation that will actually drive the desire behind NFC adoption. Fortunately there are products coming to the market over the coming weeks that will allow genuine mobile NFC payments, providing the consumer with genuine benefits, such as access to their account, person to person payments and the ability to switch the NFC payment capability off and on when required.

So while we would congratulate Barclays on their advocacy of contactless payments, i can't help thinking that PayTag is not really delivering.

Read the original Tamebay article at: http://tamebay.com/2012/11/barclaycard-paytag-for-offline-payments.html