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By the end of 2015, most smart phones sold in the United States will have near-field communication (NFC) capability and be mobile-wallet ready, potentially creating a confluence of payments and commerce, says Matt de Ganon, senior vice president of product at mobile wallet provider Softcard.
That prospect excites de Ganon and his Softcard peers. Softcard is the new name for the Isis mobile wallet, an enterprise controlled by AT&T Mobility, Verizon and T-Mobile USA.
“Part of what we want to be able to do is connect our consumers to our partners,” de Ganon says at the Softcard Innovation Forum today in San Diego.
Some of the excitement is generated by Apple Inc.’s announcemeent Sept. 9 that its newest iPhone models will use near-field communications (NFC) in a mobile payment scheme dubbed Apple Pay. The service also offers in-app purchases.
Softcard is working with Apple to enable Softcard on the iPhone in 2015 “using an integrated secure SIM-based hardware solution,” Softcard chief executive Michael Abbott wrote in a blog post last week.
Softcard executives declined to elaborate. “I encourage you to parse the last line of the blog post, read it and enjoy it because that’s all we can share at this point,” Jim Stapleton, Softcard senior vice president of sales, tells attendees. Ultimately, Softcard’s service will be available on the three major smart phone operating systems, Apple’s iOS, Google Inc.’s Android and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone, Stapleton says. At its national launch in 2013, Softcard said it was working on a Windows Phone app.
Though de Ganon provided no update on the Windows Phone app, he says enhancements are coming to the existing app. Coming in October, the updated Softcard app will have geo-targeted offers and single-use offers, new messaging features to enable in-app messages and out-of-app alerts, improved loyalty functions, and a faster, smoother store location map.
“People with an interest in mobile wallets have an interest in being targeted when near a store with a relevant offer,” de Ganon says. “Many would view the retailer in a positive way for delivering that offer to them.”
Single-use offers, new to the app, enable merchants to send an offer to consumers that expire in a designated period of time. “We can deliver time-sensitive premium offers to a consumer that have value in and of itself,” de Ganon tells Digital Transactions News. The intent is to drive new customers, he says.
De Ganon says the loyalty features will include the ability view balances, generate a bar code and deliver rewards for entering a loyalty card.
The improved store locator map will enable merchants to select premium placement, de Ganon says. The app changes come down to reducing friction in using the app, he says.
Softcard executives also provided an update on its rebranding efforts.
“We really like the name. We love the name. We love the logo,” Cie Nicholson, senior vice president of marketing, says. Softcard also instituted a positioning change, one that taps into the cultural phenomenon of the smart phone, she says.
“Initially we tried to position the solution as the enemy is the wallet,” Nicholson says. “It’s a little bit of a false enemy because people don’t dislike their wallets.”
Now the message is along the lines of being able to buy products using a smart phone, she says.
Next up for Softcard’s marketing program is to increase the company’s social network activity, especially focusing on Facebook and Twitter, Nicholson says. A mascot also is development, she adds.
Softcard also will work more closely with merchants. Nicholson cited a recent Jamba Juice campaign that netted an average of 12 transactions per store per day, about four times higher than Jamba Juice expectations, she says.
