World's First Apple Pay Payment Performed via Telephone

Proof of concept from Eckoh and Worldpay extends mobile payments to new channels

Eckoh and Worldpay, a leader in global payments, have performed the world's first Apple Pay payment via a telephone voice call. This breakthrough proof of concept by Eckoh and innovation partner Worldpay, will enable telephone-based payments to be taken via Apple Pay.

Until now, Apple Pay has been used to pay for goods via face-to-face point of sale, online or in app. For the first time ever, this innovation from Eckoh and Worldpay will allow callers to pay for products and services over the phone using Apple Pay from their Apple device. Possible use cases range from high-volume call center payments, telephone ordering services or retailer-based telephone payments.

Explaining this new payment process, Cameron Ross, Director of Payments Strategy at Eckoh, said, "Callers increasingly want to make payments over the phone in the same easy way they do online and in-store. We have made this process completely intuitive to the customer. Whilst the customer is on the phone to an agent, a message is sent to their device linking to their Apple Pay app. The customer is asked to confirm the payment on their device, which is convenient and secure. The contact center then receives an alert confirming that the payment has been made."

Not only is the customer payment experience smoother, but the innovation adds an additional layer of security for both consumers and retailers. Card-not-present fraud is increasing with data from Financial Fraud Action UK showing a 17% rise in 2015, but it can often be an overlooked part of a retailer's payment strategy. The ability for callers to authorize payments via Apple Pay is more secure than a traditional telephone transaction. The card is tokenized by the Apple system and the device-based fingerprint authentication is utilized. This means that the payment will be processed as a biometric secured transaction similar to an Apple payment in a physical store, as opposed to an unauthenticated 'cardholder not present' transaction that is normally initiated by telephone payments.

The solution is perfect for the call center environment as the customer's credit or debit card data is never shared with the contact center. This reduces the requirement for PCI DSS, enabling the best levels of payment security and PCI DSS de-scoping.

Nick Telford-Reed, Director of Technology Innovation at Worldpay said "Marrying convenience with security sits at the center of Worldpay's innovation strategy. Working with Eckoh we have developed an exciting proof of concept that extends the use of mobile payments into a whole new channel of commerce."

"By harnessing the security advances that mobile payments offer, Eckoh and Worldpay have created a new, flexible and scalable way to take friction-free telephone payments. The solution has benefits for consumers and retailers alike, as well as an exciting range of future applications."

Eckoh is continuing to develop Apple Pay functionality with the intention of releasing it as part of its overall contact center payments capability in the near future.

For more information contact MediaResponseUS@eckoh.com