NBS Technologies, a Canadian software and financial cards firm, announced that the host card emulation (HCE) feature of Android KitKat is now fully supported by the NBS Xpressi Trusted Service Manager (TSM).
With HCE no physical secure element is required. The secure element is in the Android application. Therefore, no UICC chip or microSD card is required and no Mobile Network Operator (MNO) involvement is required to personalizse and use an NFC enabled phone for contactless payments.
Robin Ehrlich, chief software architect of NBS Technologies said that the KitKat feature introduces an alternative business model for application providers and users that mitigates much of the existing complexity associated with the NFC SE business model.
“It allows NFC enabled phones to gain their full potential in the payment world, and the NBS Xpressi TSM solution introduces a flexible total end-to-end solution.”
NBS has developed an HCE application that supports both Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass. The NBS Xpressi TSM can be used to personalise the embedded secure element and the phone can be used as a contactless payment card at any POS terminal. No special hardware or third party support is required, the company adds.
Visit http://www.nbstech.com
