MasterCard Releases PayPass Developer Kit

MasterCard announced it will be releasing its PayPass user interface software development kit for Android and BlackBerry OS 7 mobile operating systems.

The card scheme said the kit will be free to license and is available globally, and is designed to help issuers, mobile network operators and third party developers build new mobile applications that can integrate PayPass' contactless payments capability in a smartphone.

The interface is available to financial institutions, merchants and third party developers, among others.

MasterCard said the decision was based on the rapidly growing NFC phone market, with 70 such models already approved by MasterCard as mobile PayPass compatible devices, and the growth of mobile payment transactions. According to Juniper Research, payments from NFC-equipped phones are expected to be responsible for sales exceeding $75 billion by 2013.

MasterCard said the developer tools can be used to integrate PayPass into a proximity payment mobile UI application, a mobile banking application or a mobile wallet application.

[Related Content: NFC Reail Payments Market to Reach $180 Billion by 2017]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio