Visa Unveils Its Answer to Secure Online and Mobile Payments

Visa’s second press release just confirmed it… Visa and Apple Opening a New Era of Payments on Mobile Devices – New Visa Token Service facilitates secure consumer payments with new Apple devices; Service to be available to all U.S. financial institutions starting in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Visa calls it an innovative technology that provides a secure environment to help drive innovation in online and mobile commerce. Also, does this aim to make Bitcoin irrelevant? It almost looks like online and mobile payments are becoming commoditized even before they gain steam.

Visa’s CEO Charlie Scharf said,

“Combining the trust, scale and security of Visa payments with Apple Pay will accelerate adoption of mobile payments. We said from the beginning that token services would provide great new consumer and merchant experiences, and you’re seeing it today in our efforts with Apple, and there’s more to come.”

Visa Token Service is said to replace sensitive payment account information on plastic cards with a digital account number or token. These tokens will not carry a consumer’s payment account details, so these tokens can be safely stored by online merchants or on mobile devices to facilitate ecommerce and mobile payments.

Visa said that its Visa Token Service will be available to Visa’s issuing financial institutions in the United States in October, with a phased roll-out overseas beginning in 2015.

The technology has been designed to support payments with mobile devices using all major mobile platforms. The Visa Token Service is said to provide a seamless experience for consumers making purchases online and with mobile devices, while preserving the integrity of the Visa payment transaction. The company said that the key benefits of Visa Token Service include: consumer protection, customized usage, convenience and cost effectiveness, and easy processing.