EnStream, a joint venture between Canadian carriers for a unified mobile payment system, has announced a new Zoompass Tag that, when attached to the back of your phone, can allow you to pay for goods with a quick tap at locations with Paypass sensors. The tag itself is a technology from Giesecke & Devrient, and likely the same thing used with Bank of Montreal‘s pilot.
Earlier this week, Zoompass had introduced their BlackBerry application to TELUS subscribers, which allows transfers and cash requests, confirmed via SMS messsages. The software seems like the perfect companion to the Zoompass tag, although I’m not sure that the two systems talk to each other much. Still, this is an entirely reasonable implementation of near-field communications – it doesn’t hinge on handset manufacturers to make elaborate upgrades, or vendors to adopt niche hardware. MasterCard and all of Canada’s carriers are behind this, and many of the Paypass terminals are already in place, so it seems like this will actually take off. Currently, the Zoompass Tag is only in trials, so you’ll have to wait a bit before you can pick one up yourself, but why not sign up for Zoompass card anyway to get started?
[via Zoompass Blog]