Telco-backed online mobile-payments company Boku is seeking to expand to the physical point of sale using NFC phones, contactless stickers and conventional prepaid cards and is partnering with MasterCard Worldwide to help with the move.
U.S.-based Boku, along with MasterCard, today announced the new product, Boku Accounts, which Boku said would enable mobile operators to roll out telco-branded prepaid payment cards, as well as prepaid applications on NFC phones and passive contactless stickers.
Consumers could tap the cards, stickers or phones to pay for purchases in stores and restaurants that accept MasterCard's PayPass application. The prepaid cards would sport a contactless interface but also could do conventional magnetic stripe or EMV transactions for the many markets with a low penetration of PayPass-enabled POS terminals.