Research In Motion Limited
(
RIMM
), the maker of Blackberry, got the approval from credit card
company
Visa Inc.
(
V
) for its secure mobile payment solution. The Visa agreement came
at a crucial juncture for Research In Motion as the company is
all slated to release its Blackberry 10 OS-based devices by the
end of this month.
According to the new agreement, the Research In Motion's
Secure Element Manager ("SEM") solution for Near Field
Communication ("NFC") mobile payments has met the stringent norms
and usability guidelines of Visa. According to the Canadian
handset manufacturer, its latest step will enable its carrier
partners to securely manage credentials on SIM cards installed in
the NFC enabled devices.
Research In Motion's SEM solution provides software and server
infrastructure in the cloud that allows the wireless carriers to
offer mobile payment services through banks and other financial
institutions, which work with Visa. The company's Blackberry 7
smartphone models are already equipped with NFC chips and SIM
cards and its latest offering BB10 OS-based device will also
possess the same.
Research In Motion, which invented the concept of mobile email
with its initial Blackberry devices has lost significant market
share in a crowded smartphone market, now being dominated by
Apple Inc.
's (
AAPL
) iPhone and other smartphone manufacturers, which runs on
Google Inc.
's (
GOOG
) Android platform. The recent launch of
Microsoft Corporation
's (
MSFT
) Windows 8 platform has only aggravated the problem.
The struggling handset manufacturer is betting on its much
hyped BB10 OS-based devices and is currently fine tuning the bits
and pieces of the new phone. The new operating system is based on
QNX software, which is compatible with various open-source coding
language, much more user friendly and is expected to be loaded
with more applications as compared to its legacy handsets.
We believe tying up with Visa is a significant move by the
company as according to market research firm IDC, global mobile
payment transaction is expected to cross $1 trillion by the end
of 2017. Furthermore, Visa's formal approval will strengthen
Research In Motion's global reach and will emphasize its trusted
partnership with hundreds of carriers worldwide as a key security
partner for mobile payment.
We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Research
In Motion. Currently, it holds a short-term Zacks Rank #3
(Hold).
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