MTS has signed an initial agreement with EnStream to bring secure mobile payment technology to Manitoba in 2013. This technology will give MTS customers the ability to pay for goods and services at participating retailers using certain smartphones and mobile devices.
Mobile commerce (mCommerce) technology has already been in place in Japan and South Korea for quite some time. North America has only begun to get it’s feet wet with the new way of paying for goods.
The initial agreement between EnStream and MTS gives MTS access to EnStream’s Secure Element Management (SEM) platform, and in turn, EnStream will provide participating banks and other financial institutions the means to facilitate transactions for MTS customers. These customers will be able to make payments using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows one device to send and receive information with another device in close proximity. MTS customers will be able to tap their NFC-enabled smartphone to a payment terminal to make payments without the need for chip cards.
For the whole process to work you’ll need a NFC-enabled phone on the MTS network (the iPhone 5 didn’t get a NFC chip, so Apple users are out of luck), and be shopping at a retailer with NFC support.
There are 3 things I never leave home without: phone, keys, and wallet, but it looks like there is becoming less and less use for the latter.
