VISA is definitely now wearable. With Swiss watch maker Swatch teaming up with the global payments service Visa Inc., transactions will now be as quick and easy as the flick of a wrist.
Come early 2016, the company will make the Swatch Bellamy available and all fitted out with a near-field communications (NFC) chip enabling Visa cardholders in the US, Switzerland and Brazil to enjoy the comfort of contactless payments.
Makers assure that the added NFC chip will not source any power from the watch's battery during payment transactions. Neither will the Bellamy require any internet for these processes. On these strengths, the Bellamy retains all the trademark qualities of Swiss watches with the single added feature of being able to make payments. Certainly this settles the issue: Swatch Bellamy is still a watch instead of a gadget.
The NFC watch will also be available in China where Swatch has a partnership with China UnionPay Co. - which facilitates majority of China's bankcard processing - and Bank of Communication. China was introduced to the Bellamy in October.
Swatch's Bellamy takes its name after Edward Bellamy, an American novelist whose 1888 novel Looking Backward 2000-1887 spoke of a future were credit cards take the place of cash.
Swatch says in a press release: "The new Bellamy watch will doubtless become a good friend to its wearer."
This partnership between the financial institution and the largest revenue-generating watch maker, is keeping with the trend of partnerships between watchmaking companies and technology groups.
Tag Heuer, for example, now has a model that carries Google's Android Wear software. Fossil, on the other hand, will soon feature timepieces carrying activity tracking technology by recently acquired Misfit. Jawbone went the same way that Swatch is going by tying up with American Express and also offering a payments feature in their timepieces.
