This Bengaluru-based start-up is everyman's Apple Pay

ToneTag's software uses sound waves to bring the same convenience of contactless payments to any mobile device, even old brick phones, reports Tech in Asia

Last year, Apple unveiled a product to unshackle payments from plastic cards with “outdated and vulnerable magnetic interface, exposed numbers and insecure security codes” – Apple Pay. To use it at an offline store, you simply hold up your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch to the merchant’s wireless payment terminal to pay. You don’t need to wake up your device or launch Apple’s Passbook app. There’s no need to dig out your credit card, worry about phishing or search for small change either.
 

But here’s the catch: Apple Pay only works with the latest Apple devices. Not everyone has them, nor can many afford them. And it’s not enough if you have one. Merchants must partner with Apple, install specific hardware, and only then can they accept Apple Pay, because it will not work on their existing point of sale terminals. In India, most small merchants haven’t even graduated from cash to card payments, let alone become compatible with Apple Pay. It’s far easier to ring in the ToneTag.

 

This software product uses sound waves to bring the same convenience of contactless payments to any mobile device, even old brick phones. It can integrate with any digital wallet, work on any operating system – Android, iOS, Windows, Linux,
Blackberry – or point-of-sale terminal, and power any mobile payment application. “Our technology provides tools to all stakeholders – merchants, issuers, acquirers and consumers – to realise frictionless in-store and in-app mobile payments,” says Kumar Abhishek, co-founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based start-up.
 

“You can just download the ToneTag app and in five minutes, you are good to go,” he adds. His company yesterday announced its first round of institutional funding. Indian conglomerate Reliance Capital’s venture fund arm invested $1 million in it.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the article here.