German electronics company Infineon has introduced ready-to-integrate technology that can transform smart wearables into fully functional payment devices.

The Secora Connect X, combined with Infineon’s Secora Wallet and Token Requestor integrated to Mastercard and Visa, enables the digitisation of cards and the creation of a custom-branded wallet app. This one-stop shop for wearable payment can accelerate time to market through seamless integration and certification, while offering flexible design, card tokenisation and secured payment functionality for any active wearable.

“Secora one-stop-shop turns wearables into payment devices certified by Visa and Mastercard with worldwide acceptance at all contactless PoS terminals, without the need for a phone or digital wallet,” said Tolgahan Yildiz from Infineon. “OEMs can now launch their own branded payment services across a wide range of smart wearables, leveraging our powerful and secured products.”

Secora Connect X suits active smart wearables, including smart rings, sports watches and fitness trackers. It has a secure element that enables contactless payment with Mastercard, Visa and many other NFC applications, with payment credentials securely stored on the chip, not in the cloud. Low power consumption extends battery life and reduces costs thanks to fewer external electronic components.

Java Card and GlobalPlatform standards support seamless integration through development tools, while pre-certified applets and 1Mbyte of memory allow developers to create custom NFC- and Bluetooth-enabled applications.

In addition, Secora Wallet and Token Requestor enable any secure element-based smart wearable to support EMVCo payment functionality via card digitisation. As a token requestor, Infineon can connect directly with payment services such as Mastercard or Visa to request and manage payment tokens, removing primary account numbers from the payment chain for added security.

The payment tokenisation process stores credit and debit cards directly on the secure element, adding an extra layer of security without relying on the cloud. The tokenised wearable is accepted globally at all contactless-enabled PoS terminals, without the need for a phone or third-party wallet services. The integrated white-label software development kit (SDK) allows branding flexibility and frictionless integration into existing OEM apps. Secora Wallet supports iOS and Android devices.

Secora Connect X is complemented by Secora Connect E, designed for connected IoT devices such as AR and VR headsets, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, and PC accessories. 

The market launch took place at last week’s Money2020 in Amsterdam. More information is available at www.infineon.com/applications/security-solutions/payment-solutions/one-stop-shop-wearable-payments.