Banks should consider developing their own mobile wallets before mobile-network operators or other nonbank wallet developers lock down the technology and garner most of the consumer attention, analysts and financial advisors
So when Commonwealth Bank of Australia announced in October that it would unveil its own
When the bank made free downloads of Kaching available for iPhones, industry observers viewed the move as one of the first bank mobile-wallet offerings without ties to a wallet developer or network operator.
On July 6, Sydney-based CommBank announced it was offering
Indeed, Kaching for Android devices lacks the contactless-payment option that Kaching customers with iPhones with the chip-embedded iCarte sleeve may use to complete “Bump” funds transfers with other iPhone users or the tap-and-go payments function at point-of-sale terminals accepting MasterCard PayPass.
Because the new Android version of Kaching software doesn’t yet communicate with the contactless computer chip in Android Near Field Communication-enabled phones, bank customers using Android handsets, even with NFC chips, will have to wait for a newer version of the Kaching software to complete contactless payments, the bank stated in a press release.
Customers using Android handsets in Samsung Galaxy or Nexus phones, as well as HTC phones, still may use other Kaching options, such as online banking, funds transfers, mobile or email payments, or Facebook friends payments, the bank said.
Drew Unsworth, CommBank’s general manager for online banking, noted in his blog that the bank prefers customers to make contactless payments using the computer chip that comes with Android phones instead of having to purchase a phone cover, such as the iCarte for iPhones. The bank plans eventually for Kaching to support contactless payments on all NFC-enabled Android devices when its software is able to integrate, Unsworth stated.
“Third parties are responsible for this [Kaching software not integrating with the chip], and as soon as it becomes available we’ll look to introduce new NFC features to our customers,” Unsworth noted.
Though Unsworth did not come out and say it in his blog, a CommBank spokesperson two months ago pointed to Google as the reason for the delay.
In a May interview with ZDNet Australia, Andy Lark, the bank’s chief marketing officer, said Google could not meet the bank’s timetable in terms of providing “clarity” on what was needed to make Kaching software integrate with the contactless chips common in Android phones. Rather than wait on Google, CommBank went ahead with its new software release last week.
The wait for Kaching contactless payments with Android phones represents an ironic twist in the payments industry, where a bank is pushing a company such as Google to move forward with mobile-wallet technology.
The bank will need Google to cooperate in integrating its software with the contactless chip, or the software likely won’t be as appealing to customers, says David Kaminsky, an analyst of emerging payments with Mercator Advisory Group.
It’s difficult to read between the lines of the Kaching announcement on whether something else regarding Google’s inability to provide the needed integration information is coming into play, Kaminsky says.
“One thing we have noticed from other wallets is that it is much more challenging to integrate with Android than iOS,” Apple’s mobile operating system, Kaminsky notes.
Android supports “significantly more devices” and is carried on more networks, which requires more testing and support, he adds.
“Naturally, that testing and support makes integration more difficult, and it is possible that could be related to Kaching’s issues,” Kaminsky suggests.
Google did not respond to PaymentsSource requests for an interview by deadline.
Bank customers who purchase the contactless-enabled iCarte cover for their iPhones have no such problem with the Kaching application.
After downloading Kaching on an iPhone 4 or 4S, customers preparing to make a funds transfer can choose the “Bump” icon on the phone screen’s payment menu, with one choosing “send” and the other choosing “receive.”
The CommBank website illustrates the “Bump” in a video, advising customers to hold the iPhones with iCarte covers and bump their fingers, not the phones, together when the application prompts them to do so.
It’s likely that CommBank is anxious to get Kaching synched with Android phones for contactless payments, considering it reports that customers have downloaded the iPhone version of Kaching 365,000 times and performed funds transfers to the tune of more than AU$1 billion, or US $1.03 billion.
