Fantastic Four : NFC App Development for making Payments through a Smartphone

The innovations and the customization of the technologies to incorporate the role of smartphones to make lives easier for the people using them. Gone are the days, when shoppers had to carry the wallets- full of cash or even the cards to swipe. The process of mobile application development is advanced than ever for integrating the payment modules with unprecedented technologies. There are a number of NFC App development examples being used already in the real world.

Types of Mobile Payment Solutions:

There are usually the following basic modes of payment being used by the people today.

• SMS Payments: For the people who do not have a smartphone, this technology is the most popular for making payments using a mobile phone needing a capability to send a message. Payments can be made for person-to-person or for the purchased goods or services.

• Direct Mobile Billing: It is still the most popular technology for making payments in some parts of Asia like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines etc. Direct Mobile Billing accounts for 70% of the payments for all the purchased goods online.

• WAP Payments: This technology uses Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) facility on your smartphone to connect it to the internet and then will use the online payment method. WAP payment examples include online wallets such as Amazon Payments, Citrus, ICICI Pockets, PayTM, Google Checkout and Paypal.

• NFC Payments: Near Field Communication known as NFC app development technology has taken a leap forward in the field of mobile payments. Using RFID, NFC phones communicate with each other and also with NFC-enabled points of sale. It enables the instant transfer of data between the two.  

So with this basic idea of technologies for mobile payments through mobile apps, let us have a look of at four famous applications being used for the mobile payments using such technologies.

1. PayPal

All you readers would be knowing this Brand “Paypal”. It is undoubtedly the most popular and the oldest company in the space of e-Commerce segment to make payments. Paypal remained upbeat since a few years back about becoming “Wallet in the Cloud’ for the daily purchases for brick-and-mortar shops. Paypal allows in-app purchase within mobile apps as well as mobile internet payments giving customers an option to do so. According to Statista, 34% of North American retailers already accepted Paypal as a payment method by December 2016 and yet another 21% have planned to accept it within a period of 1 year since then.

Source: TechCrunch

Paypal now uses NFC technology which is integrated through NFC App development to create a mobile app where customers are required to use their NFC-enabled smartphones to make a payment or use a Paypal Card. This card can be swiped or touched in at the physical point of sales locations.

2. Square

Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, the CEO & Founder of Twitter is focused on providing credit card processing and merchant solutions aiming to make commerce easier than ever. It is a famous service which can turn your iPhone or iPadd into a credit card machine. Moreover, it allows you to buy or sell or in sending money too. It has three mobile apps- Square Register, Square Wallet and Square Cash. These applications are designed to help small business accept credit card payments transaction to provide consumers a physical card-free lifestyle.

How does it work?

• At the time of the purchase, the vendor feeds the transaction information into Square Point-of-Sale (POS) and presents the amount to the buyer.
• The buyer can tap the NFC-enabled mobile device to the Square stand or Square Reader that captures the buyer’ account information. They also have an option to swipe or dip the payment card.
• POS passes the payment transaction information to Square acting as a Payment Service Provider (PSP).
• Square checks and passes the payment transaction information to the processor through internet connectivity.

Source: Square

It is as simple as you walk into a store with Square Wallet mobile app and while checking out the cashier confirms your identity and all the other things beyond that will be handled by the Square payment system.

3. Level Up

This payment platform is a real boon to customers and merchants. Level Up uses QR Code technology. It allows to make payments at the local stores where customers are required to scan their mobile devices only. In addition to making the payment attractive, quick and easy, Level Up offers rewards too. New user discounts and unlocking monetary credit after spending a certain amount in one store are just the examples.

Source: Fueled

The users need to download the app, register themselves and only need to link their bank account for the future transactions.

4. Samsung Pay

Having integrated both- Magnetic Secure Transmission technology as well as NFC in the mobile app, Samsung Pay is available only for Android devices. With the help of this technology, Samsung Pay allows your phone to act like the physical card and pay anywhere. The biggest advantage is that Samsung Pay does not need businesses to be participating merchants. This results in Samsung Pay as a stand out example while giving a big edge over the other competing payment applications. One may see its limitation for being applicable to the Android users only, but given the fact that Android has a market share of 84%, it will not affect significantly.

Source: Samsung

Samsung Pay allows users to store and load their debit, credit, gift or loyalty cards to the platform in order to use them in the stores or anywhere they wish to make a payment. The user of the app has to select the card within the app, use the fingerprint or PIN and bring near the POS machine. The machine realizes that a card is available to make the payment. The vendor then enters the amount and it asks for a PIN. It is similar to using the actual debit or credit card for making a payment. The payment then goes through by entering the PIN.

NFC App Development for your Mobile Payment Solutions

NFC App development for mobile payments is far from being mainstream unless Apple supports it. It is unclear to present a leader for mobile payments as of now.  The only thing that is for sure is the exponential growth in acceptance of mobile wallet amongst the users globally. There is a possibility that some of the technologies need a modification to provide an acceptable solution in the market.

If you are looking to have an NFC app development or mobile app development with a payment module integrated within the app, get in touch with us. We have been adapting perfectly with the innovations coming up. We provide suggestions and ideas to make your app a success with our 8+ years of experience.