While mobile payment apps, such as Apple Pay, already make it easier for people to buy things without having cash or bank cards on hand, IBM envisions even taking smartphones out of the equation by enabling purchases through the growing Internet of Things (IoT).
Working with Visa as a partner, IBM today unveiled a new effort to bring the point of sale for anything to, well, pretty much anywhere there’s an adequately intelligent device connected to the IoT. That could mean nearly 21 billion potential points of sale by 2020, according to a recent IoT prediction from the analyst firm Gartner Inc.
The new program with Visa was announced today during a two-day “Genius of Things Summit,” marking the grand opening of IBM’s Watson Internet of Things headquarters in Munich. At the event, IBM also kicked off new IoT partnerships with Arrow Electronics, Bosch, Indiegogo and French national railway SNCF, among others.
‘Point of Sale Is Everywhere’
Through the new partnership with Visa, IBM aims to provide customers using its Watson cognitive computing platform for IoT with cloud-based access to Visa’s payment services. This would enable IBM customers to use Visa’s secure Token service, which replaces payment card information with a unique digital identifier, to support purchases through a wide variety of connected devices.
“As devices begin to get more and more connected, the point of sale is everywhere,” said Avin Arumugam, Visa’s senior vice president for Internet of Things. “The Watson IoT platform will make it really simple for developers to pull the payment application into their devices using the APIs that IBM exposes.”
For example, a motorist with a car connected to the Watson platform might be able to receive an alert when a car part needs to be replaced and then order that part or schedule a service…