Turkey-based Yapi Kredi has partnered with Visa
Europe and Turkcell, the country’s biggest telecommunications
provider, to introduce iCarte, a contactless mobile payment service
for Turkcell’s iPhone customers.
The launch of the iCarte comes less than two
months after rival Garanti rolled out an antenna-equipped SIM card
mobile payment service that integrates wireless near field
communication (NFC) in co-operation with MasterCard and Turkish
mobile phone operator Avea.
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The iCarte, developed by Wireless Dynamics,
works as an attachment to the iPhone and features an antenna for
NFC-supported contactless payments.
After downloading the Visa mobile app from the
iPhone app store, the user will receive a code generated by Yapi
Kredi to activate the contactless payment account.
Once activated, customers can pay for purchases
by touching their iPhone on contactless-enabled point-of-sale
readers without entering a PIN.
According to Turkcell, there are 40,000
participating retail outlets where consumers can make mobile
contactless payments.
Yapi Kredi’s retail banking assistant general
manager, Nazan Somer, said:
“Turkey’s first iCarte application operated on
Yapi Kredi’s World infrastructure confirms our long-standing
commitment to electronic payment systems. We know that our
customers value technologies that offer flexibility and
convenience. And we’re confident that they will wholeheartedly
embrace this product. ”
