Our goal is to make digital payments even simpler than paying with your Visa card.
That’s why we’re so excited about the opportunity associated with internet-connected devices—or, as they're commonly referred to, the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT devices are capable of fast, secure digital payments—and encompass everything from cars and refrigerators, to new devices like smart watches and smart speakers, and even city infrastructure.
With conservative estimates predicting that there will be over 20 billion devices connected to the internet by 20201, we believe all of these devices can bring seamless payment experiences to everyone, everywhere.
Consumers expect convenience from all their devices—not just their smartphones.
Consumers have come to expect the same simplicity and ease of use they’ve grown accustomed to on their smartphone from all of the devices they interact with on a daily basis. New ideas and technologies have been injected into the traditional payments ecosystem, expanding the reach of digital payments around the world—and increasing consumer expectations for seamless experiences that have that “wow” factor. This has created an extraordinary opportunity to fulfill consumer expectations for convenience by making payments possible on any internet-connected device.
We’ve already enabled seamless IoT payments for wearables.
Paying with devices you wear on your body is now a reality. Today, you can make Visa payments with smartwatches like the Fitbit Ionic™ and Garmin® vívoactive® 3. At this year’s FIFA World Cup, we’ve introduced a contactless, pre-paid wristband to give fans a more seamless experience. And we’re continuing to work with device manufacturers and technology providers to integrate payments into new wearable solutions so that consumers can easily buy what they want, when they want.
We’re currently focused on IoT payments in cities, cars and retail.
We want to improve the quality of life in cities all over the world. To achieve that, we’re working on real-world pilots that incorporate all the latest IoT connected device technology. Switching to digital payments can have a tremendous impact on a city’s economy; a recent study of 100 cities found that, on average, increased digital payments could add 19 basis points to a city’s GDP and support over 45,000 additional jobs per year per city, while worker productivity and wages could increase by 14 and 16 basis points per year per city, respectively2.
Bringing secure payments to cars is a remarkable opportunity—with over $212 billion spent each year by commuters on coffee, food, gas, parking and groceries3. We’re working to optimize your commute and give you the ability to easily pay for gas, tolls, and parking. Soon you’ll be able buy groceries or flowers for your anniversary right from your car. Or imagine being able to address car repairs with no phones, no emails, and no time out of your day.
In the realm of retail, our aim is no less than designing the future of payments. We are establishing partnerships with companies to make it possible to browse, grab, and walk out of the store—so you can skip the checkout line, but not the bill.
Partnerships and pilot programs are the key to IoT innovation.
IoT payment innovation requires a multitude of partnerships to thrive. For instance, to enable an in-car experience the consumer will want to adopt, we promote implementations that integrate artificial intelligence, voice, biometrics and digital identification in addition to the payment technology. Our aim is to minimize driver distraction while enabling payment convenience—and ensure security, safety and privacy. We also aim to partner with cities that are open to testing out internet connected devices and expanding on new innovation in transportation payments and urban planning for payments.
The partnerships we’re looking to forge are ones that benefit the entire digital payment ecosystem by creating seamless consumer experiences and accelerating consumer adoption. And we want to work with our partners to create pilot programs that demonstrate IoT experiences that consumers can adopt in their everyday lives.
Let’s partner to make payments possible on every connected device, everywhere.
Visa has unique capabilities for driving IoT innovation. Our network—VisaNet—connects over 3.2 billion Visa accounts4. Our tokenization capabilities are capable of making secure payments possible on every internet-connected device in the world. We created the Visa Ready for IoT program to accelerate the adoption of tokenized payments and ensure that all IoT solutions meet Visa’s security standards. Let’s work together to revolutionize the consumer experience. Because it’s not just about how we pay. It’s about making all of our lives simpler and safer, everywhere.
Sign up to get updates on Visa’s IoT announcements and events.
For an exclusive first look at Visa’s connected car demo, tune in to the Velocity cable network’s “Performance TV” show on Saturday, June 30, 9:30am EST.
1 Gartner Report
2 Visa & Roubini ThoughtLab, Cashless Cities Report
3 Visa & Pymnts.com, The Digital Drive Report, January 2018
4 About Visa Fact Sheet