MasterCard is wasting no time this week as Mobile World Congress 2013 gets underway.
This morning in Barcelona, MasterCard – as expected – introduced MasterPass, which is being hailed by the company as “the future of digital payments.”
MasterPass is a digital service that allows consumers to use any payment card or enabled device to discover enhanced shopping experiences that are as simple as a click, tap or touch – online, in-store or anywhere.
Consumers will now be able to sign up for the service through financial institutions in Australia and Canada by the end of March. Accessibility to the platform will come to the United States and the United Kingdom later this Spring and Summer, respectively.
Although an exact timetable was not provided, MasterCard says MasterPass availability will expand to other markets worldwide before 2013. The markets tagged for introduction include: Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and Sweden.
“Every device is becoming a shopping device,” says Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard. “MasterPass brings together all of the ways we pay for things, from traditional plastic cards to digital wallets, and gives consumers the ability to make a payment from wherever they are and with one simple experience.”
