PayPal sceptical about NFC tech

While tech giants like Google, Sprint and Verizon are banking on a future where consumers pay for goods with a swipe of their smartphones, eBay's payments arm, PayPal, is a bit more sceptical, The Street reports.

“The jury is out on NFC,” says PayPal's VP of mobile, David Marcus, referring to so-called near field communication (NFC) technology, which allows consumers to wirelessly transmit their credit or debit card information to merchants through their mobile devices.

“It's not like we hate NFC, and if it takes off, we'll be on it, but we're not dependent on NFC's success to succeed offline, and that's a very differentiated approach.”

Meanwhile, PayPal has begun testing new mobile payments software at five Home Depot stores in the US, NFC News writes.

PayPal's system offers an alternative to NFC-based mobile payments solutions like Google Wallet, enabling consumers to make payments directly from their PayPal balance by simply punching in their phone number and PIN.

Merchants also have a comparatively easier time adopting the system, as it only requires updated software rather than new point-of-sale equipment.

PayPal is taking a big step forward by partnering with AJB Software Designs, which helps connect the point-of-sale terminals at many tier-one retailers to payment processors and financial institutions, GigaOM says.

AJB is now incorporating PayPal's mobile payment system into its framework and building out a specific PayPal interface, which will allow PayPal users to pay through 250 000 point-of-sale terminals that connect to AJB software.

AJB said it services 20% of the top retailers in North America. The AJB integration should be become available to retailers in the first quarter of this year.