NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – While the idea of letting merchants use their own NFC-enabled smartphones and tablets as acceptance devices to take contactless EMV payments is still getting off the ground, some major payments networks are already working on expanding the technology to enable consumers to tap their own devices to pay.
Although there are still questions of ease of use, interoperability and costs for the new technology, the idea of allowing consumers to use their own phones or tablets as certified “SoftPOS” terminals are under development by at least two international payments networks, Mastercard and JCB, according to representatives of these brands speaking on a panel at the recent Next-Generation Cards 2020 virtual conference, organized by Asian payments and identity business association APSCA.
SoftPOS–also grouped under the broader term of mPOS–refers to off-the-shelf NFC-enabled smartphones and tablets that would be certified to accept contactless EMV payments from cards and other NFC devices, without using additional dongles to read the cards or devices.
