MasterCard today announced a partnership with Coin to bring MasterCard payments to a wide array of fitness bands, smart watches and other wearable devices.
This collaboration builds upon the MasterCard announcement in October introducing the Commerce for Every Device program to enable any consumer gadget, accessory or wearable to become a payment device.
Atlas Wearables, which designs advanced fitness trackers, Moov, a personal fitness coach on your wrist, and Omate, maker of fashionable smartwatches, are the first set of companies working with MasterCard and Coin to implement payment technology in their products.
“The great thing about the MasterCard program is that we are adding payment functionality to items that consumers are already using – fitness bands, jewelry, clothing, watches,” said Sherri Haymond, Senior Vice President, Digital Payments, MasterCard. “This makes the products more useful for consumers and enhances the value device manufacturers can deliver to their customers. Coin complements that approach and enables us to reach an expanded set of device partners.”
Coin will provide hardware and software technology that is integrated with the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) and can be embedded into devices to enable manufacturers to quickly and easily implement payment functionality into their consumer products. Leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Express (Express)program, the addition of Coin’s technology simplifies commercialization and enables participating issuers to expand to a whole new category of devices.
“Coin’s Payment of Things platform is a turnkey solution to enable payments for the wearable/IoT industry. Leveraging Coin’s technology, device manufacturers will benefit from significantly reduced costs and time to market,” said Kanishk Parashar, CEO and Co-Founder of Coin. “MasterCard is our essential partner as we team up to enable the wearable domain that is projected to grow to an astounding $53 billion by 2019.”
About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone.
About Coin
Coin is a consumer electronics and financial software company focused on bringing simplicity and security to payments. Coin gives consumers the freedom to pay how, when and where they want while reducing the number of cards in their wallets. Founded by Kanishk Parashar and Karthik Balakrishnan, the Silicon Valley team behind Coin has a passion for innovative technology that seamlessly improves customers’ lives, onlycoin.com.
Source: MasterCard