Mastercard India has announced a partnership with boAt, one of India’s leading domestic wearable brands, to bring tap-and-pay functionality to boAt’s smartwatches. The feature integrates into Crest Pay, a third-party app developed by Cove that boAt uses to facilitate tap-and-pay features on its smartwatch.
Mastercard claims that the functionality is backed by its device tokenisation tech. The process digitises existing physical cards for easier checkouts during online purchases. It makes them available for use by NFC-enabled taps to pay for wearables like smartwatches, smart rings, and smartphone wallets.
At launch, the feature is supported for all existing Mastercard credit and debit cards from select major banks, with plans to expand to regional and other local banks later. Users can make transactions up to ₹5,000 without requiring a PIN, making everyday purchases more convenient.
While the partnership announcement suggests that the boAt devices will only use Mastercard cards for tap-and-pay features, Crest Pay, the app boAt is planning to use, already seems to have this feature.
When writing, the Crest Pay app page on the Google Play Store claims that the app can add tap-to-pay functionality to compatible, NFC-enabled smartwatches by scanning a card on your phone. Cove also makes other apps like fitness trackers for boAt and other smartwatch brands nationwide, including Sonata, Timex, Titan and more.
India’s wearable market has seen substantial growth recently, especially from domestic tech brands like boAt and Noise. The growth has prompted traditional watch manufacturers like Titan, Sonata, and Timex to enter the segment and compete.
The Indian wearable market expanded by 34 per cent in 2023, including a 73.7 per cent increase in smartphone shipments. This growth has entered some 54 million smart wearable devices in the market, encouraging investment opportunities and partnerships like Mastercard and boAt to bring more features to these widely accessible and cheaper wearables compared to tech titans like Apple, Samsung, and Google whose devices come at a significantly higher price point.
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