Time is Money with Launch of First Ever Contactless Payments
Wristwatch in the UK.
Updated : Tuesday, December 06, 2011
The innovative Watch2Pay contactless payment watch and prepaid MasterCard.
An Innovative collaboration between LAKS and Vincento brings
MasterCard® PayPass™ enabled wristwatch to market
November 2011, London, UK - The saying that 'time is money' has
become a reality with the launch of Watch2pay, the UK's first ever
prepaid contactless wristwatch, enabled with MasterCard® PayPass™
contactless technology to allow consumers to simply 'Tap & Go™'
to make fast, secure payments for up to £15 within seconds.
MasterCard has worked closely with watch manufacturer LAKS and
issuer Vincento to bring this latest innovation to British
consumers, who will now be able to tap their wristwatch against a
contactless reader to make a payment at more than 70,000 retailers
in the UK, without needing to enter a PIN.
Matt Lanford, Head of Prepaid at MasterCard Europe, said: "Since
we introduced contactless to the world nearly a decade ago, we've
been driving innovation in Tap & Go payments, with nearly 100
million PayPass cards and devices now issued globally. We're
maintaining that momentum by working with Vincento and LAKS to
bring together prepaid and contactless payments in a wristwatch for
the very first time in the UK, offering consumers a safe, simple
and smart way to pay for everyday items."
Contactless wristwatches are already in use in Turkey, Poland and
a number of markets in Asia. Watch2pay builds upon the growing
demand for contactless payments and prepaid cards in the UK, which
respectively offer consumers greater security than cash and allow
them to segment and set budgets for different spending needs. This
is the first time in the UK that a wristwatch has been enabled with
the payment technology to meet both these functional needs.
Consumers can purchase a LAKS wristwatch online at www.watch2pay.co.uk. It comes with a
reloadable MasterCard prepaid card which is not linked to a bank
account or any line of credit and therefore can help users budget
more effectively and avoid getting into debt. The card is
valid up to two years and accepted at over 32 million retail
locations worldwide.
Lucas Scheybal, CEO of LAKS, said: "We are delighted to be
partnering with MasterCard and Vincento on this innovative launch,
bringing Watch2Pay to the UK market. As watches are incredibly
popular as well as personal to each individual, they are ideal for
this Tap & Go technology. We are thoroughly excited to be
bringing this unique design to the UK market, especially with the
support of MasterCard."
Suresh Vaghjiani, Head of Product at Vincento, explains:
"Watch2pay is all about speed and convenience and we're genuinely
excited to be working on this project. The new Watch2pay PayPass
watch has an online account management facility, which can help
consumers keep track of their everyday spending. These wristwatches
also offer a number of great benefits to retailers such as fast
transaction times which equate to shorter queues, ideal for
environments where speed is essential."
This website allows you to store, tag and share links both with colleagues and people with similar interests. If there is a page that you find particularly interesting and want to save for future reference or share it with other people, simply click on one of these links to add to your list.
All of these sites are free to use but some may require you to register. Each of the sites also work slightly different so you may like to review them first.