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History was made today at a Tim Hortons in downtown Toronto where Olympic triathlete Simon Whitfield made the first mobile credit card transaction using Rogers Suretap on a NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone.
Coffee and donuts were served at the media event which had a distinctly Canadian flavour combining CIBC, Rogers, BlackBerry and Tim Horton's making history together.
This new payment method will be available to CIBC credit card clients using a Rogers smartphone allowing them to make touchless payments for coffee, groceries, transportation and other goods and services in tens of thousands of payment terminals at merchants across Canada.
Tim Hortons has already pledged 3,000 of its branches will be offering the service soon. "We're pleased to make history in mobile commerce by completing the first mobile credit card transaction," said David Wiliamson, Senior EVP and group head for retail at CIBC.
"Canadians are amongst the most connected consumers around the world, and we have put Canada on the world stage today as a global leader in mobile commerce," said David Robinson, Vice President of Emerging Business, Rogers Communications.
"We are passionate about delivering technology innovations and powering new mobile experiences for our customers," said Robinson. "Making the first mobile credit card payment means that we are one step closer to allowing Canadians to store everything they need, securely, in their smartphone."
As the rollout to clients begins, the new CIBC Mobile Payment App will initially be available on two smartphones on the Rogers wireless network - the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360, beginning November 16th 2012.
As of today, NFC SIM cards required to access the solution on Rogers Suretap ready devices can be ordered online. Rogers says additional suretap-ready devices will support the solution in 2013, including Android and Windows Phone 8 platforms, broadening the offer to more Canadians.
The initiative brought to market by CIBC and Rogers represents the first time a bank and a wireless carrier have successfully joined forces to offer a commercially available mobile payments solution to Canadians that leverages the secure SIM card inside an NFC-enabled device.
This new mobile payment solution arrives in Canada at a time when smartphone growth is accelerating among Canadians. A recent Harris/Decima poll shows that 44 per cent of Canadians said they now own a smartphone, and within that group, 47 per cent said they are interested in using mobile payments.
"We've seen firsthand how quickly demand can build in other aspects of mobile financial services such as mobile banking, and based on the feedback from our clients we see mobile payments growing rapidly in Canada in the coming years," noted Mr. Williamson.
Photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
