Consumers want to remain “always connected“, which drives up the demand for manufactures to continue to innovate and provide better products and services on mobile devices. As online shopping continues to grow in demand the natural evolution is to tie the two services together. In what will be the first of its kind in 
Canada, Rogers Wireless, RBC and Visa have recently announced plans to expand their internal pilot program with an extension to consumers, followed by to internal staff. According to David Robinson, Vice-President, New Business Planning, Rogers Wireless, “This pilot is the first step to making our customers’ mobile phones as indispensable as their wallets and we are excited to be working with Visa and RBC on this new wireless payment service.”
As part of the pilot program Motorola phones will be issued that are equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless chips that will enable customers to make purchases using the Visa payWave feature just as they would with a contactless RBC Visa card.
Of course the key to the pilot and subsequent adoption of mobile payments is to prove to consumers that retailers can provide a safe and secure solution. Piloting of the program is scheduled to start mid-2009.
The functions tested in the pilot will include the secure delivery and
storage of account information to the mobile phone and the security of mobile
payments at retailers.
