Palm handheld payments next step on Visa road to u-commerce

Visa International has taken a significant step towards achieving its vision of u-commerce - or Universal Commerce - with the world`s first secure payment transaction using a Palm handheld computer.

The transaction was carried out by Palm, Inc. CEO Carl Yankowski during a keynote presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on Saturday 6 January 2001. Palm and Visa worked with terminal manufacturers Ingenico and VeriFone to enable the secure transfer of payment information from a Palm handheld to a VeriFone or Ingenico point-of-sale payment terminal using infrared technology.

With nine million Palm handhelds sold worldwide, the addition of the Visa payment function is a major step in providing consumers with yet another convenient and flexible way to pay for goods and services. The service is expected to be popular in those locations that cater specifically to people who are travelling or in a hurry, such as taxis, parking garages, and fast food restaurants.

The transaction involved Yankowski`s purchase of products from a Sharper Image storefront on stage at the CES. Using Palm`s infrared technology, the handheld beamed encrypted Visa payment card data to a terminal, which approved the transaction and then beamed back a receipt to be stored in the Palm handheld.

"The Visa account number is embedded into the handheld. It`s a simple matter because the Palm OS`O platform is easy to work with. Prior to initiating the payment, Carl Yankowski entered his unique code to ensure secure access to the payment application, and then beamed the account information to the terminal - the entire transaction took only seconds," said Phil Hepworth, general manager: Visa sub-Saharan Africa.

Visa has worked with Palm to ensure that the new payment method conforms to global payment standards and that security is a top priority. Both protocol and application level security will be present to prevent `eavesdropping` as information is sent from the Palm handheld to the terminal. In addition, access controls prevent unauthorised access to payment information stored on the Palm handheld. Visa will continue to work with Palm to define additional security features to protect data as the product develops further.

"It is entirely appropriate that the start of 2001 is marked by the first wireless transaction using a Palm handheld," continued Hepworth. "We expect to see significant developments in wireless technology over the next year that will fuel the growth of u-commerce - the ability of buyers and sellers to conduct commerce anywhere, anytime, over any type of device, simply and securely. This technology will continue to move forward and be rolled out around the world, including South Africa."

"Palm is delighted to be working with Visa and other industry leaders on this breakthrough payment technology," Yankowski said. "This type of innovation will provide increasing levels of choice and convenience for consumers and merchants."

"This announcement is just one example of how we have been working with industry leaders to provide payment applications across new communication channels while ensuring payment security. Ultimately, we want to enable our member banks to take advantage of this new technology to provide new services and add value to existing products," Hepworth concluded.

Visa is working on a number of fronts to realise the vision of u-commerce, including the continuing development of chip-based cards and payment tools, enhanced security for Web-based payments, and the acceleration of wireless or mobile commerce. Visa is also taking a leading role in key standards bodies such as the Infrared Financial Messaging Standard Body, Bluetooth Financial Study Group, the WAP Forum and the Mobey Forum.