Visa USA is teaming up with Wells Fargo & Co. in an experiment aimed at transforming mobile telephones into electronic wallets.
As part of a pilot program to be announced Wednesday, up to 50 Wells Fargo employees soon will begin paying for some products and services with specially equipped phones instead of credit and debit cards.
If those tests are successful, Wells Fargo then plans to ask 300 to 500 of its current customers to sample the mobile payment platform, which San Francisco-based Visa began building at the beginning of this year.
Wells Fargo's customer tests won't begin until autumn, meaning Visa's mobile payment system won't be ready for widespread usage until next year at the earliest.
Visa, which already runs the nation's largest payment network, hasn't set a specific timetable for taking the wraps off its mobile service.
Going mobile is a high priority for Visa and banks such as Wells Fargo that issue its cards because increasingly sophisticated wireless phones are opening up new opportunities to increase the frequency of revenue-generating electronic payments.Several major banks, including Wells Fargo, Citibank, Wachovia Corp., also are developing new ways for customers to use their mobile phones to check account balances, transfer funds and pay bills, just like they have been able to do for years through personal computers.
Visa and its biggest rival, MasterCard Inc., have been laying the groundwork for mobile payments by enabling 'contact-less' transactions that enable consumers to simply wave a card or key fob over a reader instead of swiping it through a machine.
Because the contact-less method doesn't require a cardholder's signature, it expedites the check-out process _ an improvement that has encouraged more fast-food restaurants to accept credit and debit cards.
But it's still a niche technology. Visa said just 32,000 of the roughly 5 million U.S. merchants that accept its cards currently can process contact-less or mobile payments.
What's more, most consumers don't have mobile phones equipped with the high-powered computer chip needed to make payments in Visa's system.
But Visa and Wells Fargo officials are confident it's only a matter of time before the technology becomes a staple of mobile phones.
'Mobile devices have become an integral part of everyday life, just as electronic payments have,' said Peter Ho, a product manager in Wells Fargos card services division.
Hybrid Cars - Safe on the Environment
Car manufacturers tout their efficiency. Consumer advocates dispute claims of 60-plus miles per gallon gas efficiency. Amidst the controversy, environmentalists still claim, in the absence of anything better - that hybrid vehicles are still better for the environment than their traditional gas-guzzling counterparts.
Hybrids, known for the way they combine both gas and electric power to offer a cleaner ride, have come under fire in recent months for their inability to reach gas mileage milestones set by the manufacturers. Critics say that most fail to live up to claims of getting more than 60 miles to a single gallon of gas. Advocates argue that recent studies confirm the same is true for efficiency ratings set on traditional engines, still making hybrids the better deal environmentally.
Touted as the gas-saver of the future when introduced in 1999, hybrids are known to use a fraction of the gas due to their ability to "share the burden", with their electric motors. Full hybrid vehicles allow the electric motor to work independently of the more traditional internal combustion engine, while driving at low speeds. This in turn saves gas, and stops harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. During an idle stop, a full hybrid actually shuts itself off, letting the electric motor take over to eliminate unnecessary idling and emissions.
Toyota Prius - Toyota's hybrid car
Hybrids, known for the way they combine both gas and electric power to offer a cleaner ride, have come under fire in recent months for their inability to reach gas mileage milestones set by the manufacturers. Critics say that most fail to live up to claims of getting more than 60 miles to a single gallon of gas. Advocates argue that recent studies confirm the same is true for efficiency ratings set on traditional engines, still making hybrids the better deal environmentally.
Touted as the gas-saver of the future when introduced in 1999, hybrids are known to use a fraction of the gas due to their ability to "share the burden", with their electric motors. Full hybrid vehicles allow the electric motor to work independently of the more traditional internal combustion engine, while driving at low speeds. This in turn saves gas, and stops harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. During an idle stop, a full hybrid actually shuts itself off, letting the electric motor take over to eliminate unnecessary idling and emissions.
Toyota Prius - Toyota's hybrid carConsumers should be aware, however, that the mild hybrids focus remains on traditional gas consumption, with the electric motor only assisting the gas engine at high speeds when more power is needed, thus making the mild hybrid much less environmental friendly than its full hybrid counterpart.
Great for in town drivers, the full hybrid allows slow speeding drivers to virtually use only the electric motor, thus saving even more gas, and eliminating harmful emissions into the environment.
Despite any controversy surrounding today's hybrid vehicles, consumers seem eager to do what they can to decrease the harmful effects of emissions on the environment and save a few bucks at the pumps.
The Yano Research Institute Ltd. estimates that by 2015, nearly 5.37 million hybrid vehicles will be on the global road, compared to less than one million last year.Manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon, with Honda, Toyota, Ford, Lexus and Chevrolet, all offering their own hybrid varieties. Newer models sport higher-powered and faster models, even making hybrid SUV's and trucks available to the consumer.
Hybrid Cars - Safe on the Environment
Car manufacturers tout their efficiency. Consumer advocates dispute claims of 60-plus miles per gallon gas efficiency. Amidst the controversy, environmentalists still claim, in the absence of anything better - that hybrid vehicles are still better for the environment than their traditional gas-guzzling counterparts.
Hybrids, known for the way they combine both gas and electric power to offer a cleaner ride, have come under fire in recent months for their inability to reach gas mileage milestones set by the manufacturers. Critics say that most fail to live up to claims of getting more than 60 miles to a single gallon of gas. Advocates argue that recent studies confirm the same is true for efficiency ratings set on traditional engines, still making hybrids the better deal environmentally.
Touted as the gas-saver of the future when introduced in 1999, hybrids are known to use a fraction of the gas due to their ability to "share the burden", with their electric motors. Full hybrid vehicles allow the electric motor to work independently of the more traditional internal combustion engine, while driving at low speeds. This in turn saves gas, and stops harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. During an idle stop, a full hybrid actually shuts itself off, letting the electric motor take over to eliminate unnecessary idling and emissions.
Toyota Prius - Toyota's hybrid car
Hybrids, known for the way they combine both gas and electric power to offer a cleaner ride, have come under fire in recent months for their inability to reach gas mileage milestones set by the manufacturers. Critics say that most fail to live up to claims of getting more than 60 miles to a single gallon of gas. Advocates argue that recent studies confirm the same is true for efficiency ratings set on traditional engines, still making hybrids the better deal environmentally.
Touted as the gas-saver of the future when introduced in 1999, hybrids are known to use a fraction of the gas due to their ability to "share the burden", with their electric motors. Full hybrid vehicles allow the electric motor to work independently of the more traditional internal combustion engine, while driving at low speeds. This in turn saves gas, and stops harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. During an idle stop, a full hybrid actually shuts itself off, letting the electric motor take over to eliminate unnecessary idling and emissions.
Toyota Prius - Toyota's hybrid carConsumers should be aware, however, that the mild hybrids focus remains on traditional gas consumption, with the electric motor only assisting the gas engine at high speeds when more power is needed, thus making the mild hybrid much less environmental friendly than its full hybrid counterpart.
Great for in town drivers, the full hybrid allows slow speeding drivers to virtually use only the electric motor, thus saving even more gas, and eliminating harmful emissions into the environment.
Despite any controversy surrounding today's hybrid vehicles, consumers seem eager to do what they can to decrease the harmful effects of emissions on the environment and save a few bucks at the pumps.
The Yano Research Institute Ltd. estimates that by 2015, nearly 5.37 million hybrid vehicles will be on the global road, compared to less than one million last year.Manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon, with Honda, Toyota, Ford, Lexus and Chevrolet, all offering their own hybrid varieties. Newer models sport higher-powered and faster models, even making hybrid SUV's and trucks available to the consumer.
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