Contactless prepaid watch wins OSCARDs Technology Award
Altair Financial Services International Plc (Altair) accepted the award for Best Technology at The OSCARDs Awards 2008 in Paris. Organised by Publi-News, the awards recognise innovations and client-focussed tangible benefits in the cards and payments sector. A jury of international experts selected the reloadable Contactless Prepaid Watch, capable of supporting offline transaction authorisations, as the European Technology category winner.
The watch functionality, made possible by collaboration between Altair, CardPOS Europe, LAKS and ID Data, aims to provide customers with a new and exciting way to pay. In addition, the product offers merchants a new revenue opportunity, increased throughput and improved customer loyalty.
“Altair has been at the forefront of contactless prepaid cards since 2007,” said Altair CEO, Lee Britton. “The ability to offer this product provides a staging point and proving ground for the delivery of further key industry innovations. Contactless non-card form factors are a practical proposition for live consumer programs in a variety of industry sectors that will benefit from increased sales and revenue as a result of the deployment of Contactless Watches. Working with leading industry players such as CardPOS Europe, LAKS and ID Data has allowed us to identify and validate the technology roadmap for the next generation of innovative, flexible card industry products.”
Contactless payment products can bring benefits to card issuers aiming to differentiate their offering. Contactless Watches could change the way consumers buy as they will no longer need cash on hand and can spend less time waiting to pay for goods.
Commenting, Richard O’Reilly, CardPOS Sales Manager (European Retail Banking Division), said, “The LAKS Smart Transaction Watch 2 with removable SIM has been cleverly utilised by Altair to allow the implementation of non-standard form factors using contactless payment functionality in an off line environment. This application is particularly suited to the fast growing prepaid and gift card market in which Altair excels.”
“In addition to showing you the time, the LAKS Smart Transaction Watch 2 is an extremely quick, convenient, stylish and exciting way for users to process payments. The time has come for more convenient payment methods and with this smart watch, time is now truly money”, said Lucas Scheybal CEO of LAKS GmbH.
The watch face can be customised with a variety of colours and graphics providing users with a highly personalised and unique product. The customisation provides unlimited opportunities to market the Smart Watch to brands compelling to users, including sports teams, motor racing, fast food, gyms, bands, beverages, sportswear, designer names and more.
John Cooke, ID Data Ltd Business Development Director, commented, “ID Data is very excited to have worked with Altair and other leading edge innovators, CardPOS and LAKS, to deliver this creative new technology to the market. This award and the product it recognises, is testament to the skills and capabilities of the organisations involved and a shining example of customised products and solutions that can be delivered for our customers.”
For more information, visit altair-financial.com