Various banks are the world are working on releasing their contactless payment applications, as all of these financial institutions want to be part of the new hype. Barclays is the latest bank to do so, and their application features the Host Card Emulation technology. Whether or not this app will put contactless payments on the map, even more, remains to be seen, as Bitcoin remains a stiff competitor.
Also read: SpectroCoin Launches Two New Bitcoin Debit Cards Host Card Emulation Technology For Contactless Payments
TheMerkle_Barclays Host Card Emulation Coming up with something new and creative in the world of contactless payments these days is all but impossible these days. There is only so much financial institutions can achieve that hasn’t been done before, and contactless payments are almost at the limit of what is possible when relying on existing infrastructure.
Host Card Emulation technology, on the other hand, is something completely new. Or that is what Barclays would like people to believe anyway, even though the technology has been around for quite some time. All this feature does is digitize the physical credit card people own already, and allow them to use as a mobile contactless payment solution.
While over 300,000 locations across the UK will be accepting this new form of payment, the question becomes whether or not consumers will install a new application for doing so. Most plastic cards have a contactless payment chip these days, rendering the need for additional software moot. All Host Card Emulation does this is mirror the card in a digitized format on a mobile device.
Furthermore, there is the topic of security that needs to be addressed when storing all of that valuable payment information on a phone in digital format. The question becomes whether or not Barclays will ensure the […]
