MasterCard today at Mobile World Congress announced a partnership with Swiss digital security firm WISeKey that will bring NFC payments to select luxury brand watches and wearables. Bulgari and Hublot have already signed on to use WISeKey’s WIS.WATCH technology and could soon unveil new devices capable of NFC MasterCard transactions.
“Our collaboration with WISeKey is a great example of how payments functionality can deliver transformative more value for a variety of device manufacturers, and create safe and convenient shopping experiences for their consumers,” said Sherri Haymond, senior vice president, Digital Payments and Labs, MasterCard. “Together, we are using our collective innovative technology and expertise to transform the way people pay for things.”
The move presumably opens the door to Bulgari and Hublot to offer watches capable of making payments much as Swatch has done with its pay-by-the-wrist Bellamy watch.
No details or timelines were provided as to when Bulgari, Hublot or other partners might announce new wearables capable of mobile payment transactions.
MasterCard signed a similar agreement with Coin back at CES 2016 that could see similar technology and NFC MasterCard transactions make its way onto a wider range of watches and wearables.
Contactless wearable technology is quickly making its way onto not only wearables but mobile devices such as smartphones as well. Samsung also used Mobile World Congress to announce its global expansion plans for its Samsung Pay platform.
Source : Mastercard