Springwise: RFID-Enabled Watch Offers Contactless Payment With MasterCard

Contactless credit cards have been around for several years already through the likes of RFID-enabled offerings such as MasterCard PayPass and VISA PayWave. What we hadn’t seen until recently, however, is a wrist watch offering similar capabilities. Sure enough, Watch2Pay devices include prepaid MasterCard PayPass technology to let consumers pay for purchases with a swipe of their watch anywhere PayPass is accepted.

The creation of Austrian watchmaker LAKS, Watch2Pay devices come with both a standard-sized MasterCard PayPass prepaid card, and a smaller version of the card which is fitted inside the watch. Both are linked to the same prepaid, reloadable account, and both are valid for two years. When shopping at participating MasterCard PayPass retailers, Watch2Pay users can simply hold their watch up to the retailer’s reader and payment is instantaneously made. The standard card, meanwhile, can be used at stores without PayPass technology. Available in numerous colors, each Watch2Pay device is priced at GBP 99.

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Originally published on Springwise, republished with kind permission.

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