Dive Brief:
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After a decade of slow growth, near field communication (NFC) is finally seeing a bit of a boom as consumers become more comfortable using their phones for payment.
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AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon together late last year launched Isis Wallet, the first nationwide NFC payment system linked to credit cards. The wallet requires a one-time use PIN, which may be more secure than traditional credit card payments and could prevent the kind of cyber breach that occurred at several retailers last year.
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Some 20,000 new Isis Wallet accounts are activated each day, according to Isis. It’s available on 70 devices, not including the iPhone, which will enable the app with the iPhone 6. Current iPhone users can access the system with an Isis-enabled phone case.
Dive Insight:
The use of contactless payments like Isis Wallet increased 133% over the past year, but there are still obstacles to wide acceptance and use of mobile payments. Users abandon the process if it requires too many taps, for one thing. And there has to be wide enough availability at retailers and other places like vending machines for consumers to get in the habit of tapping their phones for payment even once.
It will require retailers to use coupons, loyalty programs, and other ways of increasing interactions with customers to educate consumers about the advantages of mobile payments, according to reporting by CNBC.