News

Skyzer Limited, New Zealand's leading payment and retail technology distributor announced today that it was the developer of the payment acceptance technology deployed last week in New Zealand for a trial of a new NFC-based payment system.

The trial, a collaboration between Skyzer, Bank of New Zealand, Paymark, Vodafone and Visa is currently operating in cafes in Auckland and Wellington.

Already referred to by various media outlets as a world first, this trial uses Ingenico payment terminals, GHL contactless card readers and locally compliant payment software, all provided and integrated by Skyzer.

Skyzer's Technical Director Troy Sneddon said that this project showcases New Zealand payments expertise and demonstrates why the country continues to lead the world in electronic payment usage levels.

"We're proud to be part of such a leading edge development, and I congratulate our technology partners and our talented development team on such a successful launch", he said.

The NFC technology project comes only months after Skyzer's widespread production release of contactless credit card processing solution into the New Zealand market.

Samsung Galaxy S2 handsets featuring true purpose-built NFC functionality, operating via an application deployed securely on the handset's SIM, are being used by Vodafone and BNZ staff.

NFC, or Near Field Communication, is a short range wireless technology similar to RFID that can allow smartphones to act as contactless chip-based credit cards.

Participants in the trial simply present their handset to the contactless reader on the merchants countertop and their transaction is processed online quickly and securely. Transaction receipts are then delivered electronically to the handset.