April 05, 2007New Technology - Near Field Ordering from Vending Machines with Mobile PhonesGetting more like Europe every day. Yesterday USA Technologies unveiled vending machines equipped with e-Port technology that allows those with NFC-capable cell phones to make purchases without coins or dollar bills. MasterCard and USA Technologies are said they are deploying 6,000 of the vending machines nationwide to accept MasterCard’s PayPass. Always relevant to check back later and see the press release which says how many "have been deployed". ORLANDO, Fla.– USA Technologies announced that vending machines equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) capable e-Ports were unveiled at the recent CTIA Wireless conference and attracted national news attention. It is the first time that USA Technologies has publicly launched its NFC capable e-Port payment technology, which enables consumers to make purchases at unattended point of sale using an NFC capable cellular phone. National broadcasting network CNBC News featured a vending machine equipped with an NFC capable e-Port accepting payments from cellular phones in a business news report of the CTIA conference. The video shows a consumer making purchases from the vending machine by pointing a cellular phone at a USA Technologies G6 e-Port device. NFC is the next wave of cashless payment solutions beyond magnetic stripe and contactless credit and debit cards. NFC encrypts credit and debit card information using short distance radio waves and transmits the data directly to a payment device to enable purchases with cellular phones. USA Technologies business partners and customers, including cellular telephone manufacturers, demonstrated the USA Technologies’ e-Port G6 NFC readers. “Issuing Banks and card companies are analyzing every kind of cashless payment device for speed and convenience and the e-Port G6 is the first, proven cashless transaction device in vending that accepts all forms of cashless payment,” said Stephen P. Herbert, President and COO, USA Technologies. “USA Technologies is the first to offer NFC wireless technology that allows consumers to make purchases with contactless cards as well as cellular phones at unattended point of sale,” he said. MasterCard and USA Technologies are currently deploying 6,000 e-Port G6 wireless devices in vending machines nationwide to accept MasterCard’s PayPass contactless payment system. The readers are being installed in vending machines in more than 20 major U.S. cities. The 6,000 e-Port G6 terminals are NFC capable, and enable consumers to make purchases from vending machines with magnetic stripe and contactless cards, as well as NFC capable cellular phones. Bank of America is among the first banks to choose the e-Port G6 cashless terminals for evaluation in radio frequency cashless payment device trials. “There are an estimated 190 million cellular phones in use by American consumers, and handset manufacturers and carriers are squarely focused on delivering payment capability and related services to consumers through this infrastructure,” said Mr. Herbert. “This new capability was a feature at the CTIA conference, especially with vending machines where the e-Port G6 is a clear marketplace leader,” he said. Posted by staff at April 5, 2007 08:07 AM |