MasterCard and Coin take NFC payments to wearable devices

Omate Watch
ON TIMEOmate’s smartwatch uses Coin and MasterCard’s NFC payments technology

Connected device maker Coin has partnered with MasterCard to enable NFC payments on a range of fitness bands, smartwatches and other wearable devices. Fitness wearable designers Atlas Wearables and Moov and smartwatch provider Omate are the first to implement the NFC payments technology into their products.

The collaboration with Coin builds on MasterCard’s Commerce for Every Device programme which aims to enable payments to be made using “virtually any device” including NFC-enabled clothing, jewellery and vehicle keyfobs.

“Coin will provide hardware and software technology that is integrated with the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) and can be embedded into devices to enable manufacturers to quickly and easily implement payment functionality into their consumer products,” MasterCard says.

“Leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Express program, the addition of Coin’s technology simplifies commercialisation and enables participating issuers to expand to a whole new category of devices.”

Turnkey solution

“Coin’s Payment of Things platform is a turnkey solution to enable payments for the wearable industry and the Internet of Things (IoT) industry,” says Kanishk Parashar, CEO and co-founder of Coin. “Leveraging Coin’s technology, device manufacturers will benefit from significantly reduced costs and time to market.”

“The great thing about the MasterCard programme is that we are adding payment functionality to items that consumers are already using — fitness bands, jewellery, clothing, watches,” adds Sherri Haymond, senior VP of digital payments at MasterCard.

“This makes the products more useful for consumers and enhances the value device manufacturers can deliver to their customers. Coin complements that approach and enables us to reach an expanded set of device partners.”

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