Visa and Wells Fargo Testing NFC Payments

But when it came to questions involving data security, feedback from the testers was varied, as was consumer opinion. The testers who are accustomed to using their phones for things other than just making calls, she explains, tended to dislike having to enter passwords to access account information or make payments with their phones. Less tech-savvy testers, on the other hand, usually preferred to enter passwords when accessing their accounts.

"This supported our theory that the [mobile payments and banking] platform needs to be designed for consumer choice," Janes says. "Those who want to use security need to be able to so." Additionally, she adds, Visa learned that consumers want to have their mobile banking and mobile payments applications linked together on their phones so they need not navigate separate menus to access either one.

The second phase of the pilot, scheduled to commence in late summer, will involve 30 to 50 Wells Fargo employees testing mobile payments at merchants that accept Visa payWave credit and debit cards; the phones work just like cards for making payments. The participants in this phase, some of which will be drawn from the first group, will also test an over-the-air account-setup process that Visa has added to its mobile payments application.

Pilot participants will be able either to configure their Nokia 6131 phones to require a password (in the form of a PIN) before initiating payment, or to leave that feature turned off. This portion of the test will also take place in the San Francisco area.

According to Janes, Wells Fargo and Visa will use feedback collected from the second-phase testers to develop specifications for the third and final phase, slated for the fourth quarter of 2007. This will involve 300 to 500 Wells Fargo Visa cardholders, and will include additional pilot partners. Janes says neither the geographic location of these testers, nor the partners that will take part in the third phase, have yet been determined.

The trial may involve an NFC-enabled handset from a cell-phone manufacturer other than Nokia, Janes notes, or another wireless service provider. For the first two phases of testing, Ztar Mobile provided the required wireless services.