Challenges of Testing Mobile Payments
 

The mobile payment market is growing and revolutionizing how to pay at the register. With increased complexity resulting from the interaction of many different point-of-sale terminals, banks, devices, and applications, pin-pointing the root cause of mobile payment issues can be a challenge.

To produce actionable results, testing often requires tracing of communication protocols during test execution. Normally, this requires a laptop and a cable connected to the device and possibly other large pieces of equipment. While this is the traditional approach in a lab, it is not feasible in the real point-of-sale (POS) environment. Using a laptop or any special equipment connected to a smartphone during a payment process – to capture NFC-related protocol information – will draw attention and raise security concerns from shop owners and customers. Yet, field test of mobile payment solutions (or any other NFC-based service) under real-life conditions is essential to ensure that customers can trust the payment service.

The New TraceCase – Small, Inconspicuous, Convenient
 

COMPRION TraceCase – developed in collaboration with P3 communications – is the perfect tool for live capturing of the contactless interaction between smartphones and the point of sale. The tool is a smartphone case that houses an existing device and is equipped with proven NFC tracing technology.

• Small & Discreet
  TraceCase captures the transaction data of a mobile purchase at the POS, without a laptop or additional equipment. The whole tracing process happens in a very inconspicuous way without affecting the daily business of the merchant.

• Easy to Use in the Field
  The tracer is completely stand-alone; the system is battery-powered, operated by a mobile app, and all of the captured data is stored on the device.

• No Intrusion
  Tracing with TraceCase has no influence on the mobile payment transaction itself. 

• Quick Analysis
  Once collected, the payment transaction data can easily be analyzed with COMPRION Interoperability Test Center or COMPRION MoVie software, allowing engineers to identify and solve issues observed in the field.

 

Author: Markus Michelt, Global Manager for Device Testing P3

About P3 communications

P3 communications is the leading international consulting, engineering, and testing services company in the aviation, automotive, telecommunication, and the IoT industries. Based on many years of experience, P3 is recognized as the proven market expert and knows exactly the challenges of field testing (to test a product or service under conditions of actual operation or use). Essentially, every product will be tested before market entry to ensure proper functionality and performance. P3 engineers perform field tests in many countries around the world – combining local know-how and technical expertise. The P3 experts test and analyze the functions and performance of smartphones – but also from connected cars, smart meters, WLAN devices, and IoT devices.

 

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• TraceCase
• P3
• Mobile Payment
• NFC
• SESAMES
• Testability Times