OREANDA-NEWS. Russia i-Free held press conference to introduce the first full-featured NFC-wallet in CIS embedded in smartphones and TSM (TrustedServiceManager) platform providing the advantages of NFC-technology including remote issue and protected of download MobileMasterCard PayPass® cards. The “on air” delivery of the MobileMasterCard PayPass of Tinkoff Credit Systems was also shown during the conference.

Both NFC-wallet and TSM (Trusted Service Manager) platform were developed by i-Free for mobile contactless technology. Three services are available for NFC-wallet users:  MobileMasterCard PayPass payment card of Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, transport cards from some Russian regional centers and geolocation-based coupon service.   Nowadays these services are available only for a limited number of users, although we are preparing them for mass commercial use.

A package solution including NFC -wallet and TSM platform significantly extends smartphone’s features, thus converting the devices into universal storages of any modern smart-cards and respective applications.

This new product is cardinally different from all NFC -solutions existing nowadays on the market of Russia and CIS.  The fundamental novelty of the product is the possibility to download the payment, transport and any other cards the same way as one downloads games and applications. All you need to use a card in a sale point is to touch the MasterCardPayPass technology supporting reader with your phone. 

NFC -wallet and TSM platform comply with the highest safety standards and are protected from attacks on the software and hardware level.

Anatoly Makeshin, the member of the board of Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, commented on the technology solution: “We aim to offer to our clients the most advanced and hi-tech products. To us, the no-branches bank, the most convenient way of delivery of a payment instrument right to the client's hand has always been of paramount importance.   This solution combines both high usability and speed: it takes few minutes to get a card into a smartphone.  This is a breakthrough, one more confident step into future payments.”

Currently NFC-wallet offers not only basic functions of Mobile MasterCard PayPass card download and use in retail and service outlets, but also the payment for goods and services inside the application.  The user can buy a ticket for a public transport or purchase a coupon paying for it with international bank card in one click.

Today NFC -wallet is integrated in three smartphone models - Philips W336, HTC One and HTC One SV.  The application supporting the work of NFC -wallet is embedded in the phone as a part of the system software.  It ensures the guaranteed compatibility of the application with hardware characteristics of every specific phone model; it also allows using all the possibilities of Android platform.

"The smartphone park with NFC -wallet support will be significantly broaden in the months coming: according to our estimate not less than 1 million of such phones will appear on Russian market before the year will be over. - Pavel Sokolov, i-Free Project leader, says.  - While creating NFC -wallet we understood that we were developing the application that people would use every day and we did our best to make the wallet easy to use by any person. That is why we designed a simple, self-explanatory user interface and embedded a lot of functions to use the application easily”.

Currently the product uses Embedded Secure Element. The support of NFC-compatible SIM-cards from mobile phone companies in regards of i-Free TSM-platform will be added in the nearest future, which will ensure a broader consumer audience coverage to service-providers – banks, transport companies and others.

TSM platform complies with all necessary industrial standards. This solution also takes into account the requirements and specifics of Russian transport infrastructure.

Kirill Gorynya, General Director of i-Free Innovations commented on the platform and NFC -wallet start up:  “It is the first full-featured NFC-solution on the market of Russia and CIS and we hope that its start-up will finally give the necessary impulse to interested companies to create and implement NFC-compatible services. The international experience shows that there is a demand for NFC -services in different areas of life and business, and they are used by different social groups.”

“The start-up of the first NFC-service in Russia with remote Mobile MasterCard PayPass card issue and personalization is a remarkable event for further mass development of NFC-infrastructure and services available to both Russian banks and their customers.  Near and consistent work of the project teams of i-Free, Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, and MasterCard made it all possible. It is worth noting that to implement this project, i-Free had undergone very difficult and multilevel certification and audit process for compliance of technical functionality and bank cards data processing safety, as well as testing in MasterCard authorized labs.” - Dmitry Tartyshev, Vice-President for mobile business development of MasterCard in Russia, notes.