Intel, MasterCard to Enable Contactless Payments from the Comfort of Home (Nov. 20, 2013)
Pay-by-tap is coming to a computer or tablet near you, now that chipmaker Intel Corp. has announced plans to embed select computing devices with NFC acceptance technology that will enable online shoppers to pay by tapping a MasterCard contactless payment card or mobile phone on a reader embedded in the device. Intel will use a special NFC radio controller from Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors, while identity verification will be provided by Intel’s own Identity Protection Technology (IPT), which provides additional layers of security atop those already provided by MasterCard’s MasterPass technology, the companies said.
The announcement is the latest step in the partnership struck two years ago by MasterCard and Intel, with the goal of combining MasterPass and IPT to enable NFC payments over computing devices. The first stage of the pact involved incorporating NFC acceptance technology into Intel’s own Ultrabook tablet/laptop hybrid. Now, the companies are bringing contactless to other Intel-based PCs in a bid to capture more of the rapidly growing online shopping market. U.S. consumers are projected to spend $262 billion online in 2013, a 16.4 percent increase compared to 2012, according to eMarketer. And while in-store NFC acceptance has been slow to develop, incorporating NFC into computing devices could prove an effective method of bringing the technology into the mainstream.
