ABnote Adds NFC Support to its Mobile Wallet Via OTI’s Audio-Jack Plug-in Device

ABnote is adding support for near-field communication (NFC) technology to its miWallet mobile wallet with the addition of the Wave device from Israeli technology vendor On Track Innovations Ltd., ABnote recently announced.

The device connects to mobile devices using the audio jack on smart phones and tablets. When connected, it can be used to tap against a contactless reader to complete an NFC transaction. NFC is a two-way radio-wave protocol that allows consumers to use their handsets to make point-of-sale payments and receive and redeem rewards.

ABnote’s wallet is available for mobile devices using Google Inc.’s Android and Apple Inc.’s iOS operating systems. It can hold multiple cards branded in the form factor requested by each issuer, be that a merchant or a bank, ABnote says. “The issuer has complete control of the enrollment of their customer independently from the other cards in the wallet through ABnote’s Visa and MasterCard certified trusted service manager,” a spokeswoman says.

OTI’s Wave technology follows earlier efforts to introduce NFC to phones without built-in NFC chips and antennae. The most familiar method has been to rely on a Secure Digital (SD) card that plugs into the phone. For Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which doesn’t have a slot to accommodate SD cards, a special sleeve can be used for the card.

ABnote says many of its customers want support for NFC that enables them to control the security of the enrollment process while reaching a broad audience of consumers. “An NFC program that works through a sleeve to a specific phone is limited due to the pace of phone upgrades,” the spokeswoman says. “Offering a device such as the OTI Wave allows more flexibility and ease-of-use for a smart phone, tablet, or computer user.”

ABnote says the Wave device can be rebranded with an ABnote client’s logo, and be loaded with other applications, such as identification and loyalty applications. ABnote will charge issuers a one-time fee for provisioning the data to a consumer’s smart phone.

NFC adoption, however, has been restrained. In June, research firm Gartner Inc. scaled back its global NFC payments volume forecast to $22 billion, a 40% reduction from a forecast released in 2012. How NFC payments will grow in the United States is uncertain. Isis, the mobile wallet scheme backed by three wireless carriers just launched nationally, and says more than 40 smart phones can use its NFC service. But NFC frontrunner Google Inc. has dramatically revamped its Google Wallet to focus on e-commerce and person-to-person payments. It also announced in its latest Android operating system update a workaround to the secure element, which is where users’ payment credentials are stored in conventional NFC transactions.

OTI says ABnote is the first publicly announced Wave customer in North America.