[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

BARCELONA, SPAIN – Mobile World Congress

Visa and Intel have formed a strategic agreement to develop mobile commerce solutions tailored to consumers in developed and developing countries. During a press conference at the Mobile World Congress currently being held in Barcelona, the companies outlined their collaboration across Intel Atom-based smartphones and tablets.

John Partridge (President, Visa): Visa’s agreement with Intel paves the way for financial institutions around the globe to offer their account holders mobile payments and financial services using innovative mobile devices and technologies designed by Intel.

Visa has certified Intel’s Smartphone Reference Device powered by the Intel Atom processor Z2460 for use with Visa payWave (Visa’s mobile payment technology that enables consumers to make payments at retail locations by waving their mobile phone in front of a payment terminal.) This will enable turn-key implementation for OEMs delivering NFC (Near Field Communication)-enabled smartphones.

The Intel Smartphone Reference Device will host the Visa payWave payment application and feature NFC technology. When used in combination with a Visa-compliant UICC, smartphones based on the Intel Smartphone Reference Device handset can be enabled to connect to Visa ‘s mobile provisioning service.