New Mini eases e-commerce on the hoof
New Mini eases e-commerce on the hoof
The miniaturisation of devices that many of us carry around in our pockets and handbags, such as PDAs, mobile phones and MP3 players has now been replicated in the plastic we often use to pay for such items, with the resultant card expected to prove as popular as the aforementioned pocket sized items.
The National Australia Bank is the first financial institution in Australia torelease the Visa Mini, a credit card which has proved very popular in the United States and Asia because of its handy compact size.
While the card has now been officially launched in this country, it will still be a few weeks before cards start getting in the hands of Australian consumers.
The National Visa Mini is 43 percent smaller than a standard card and has a smallperforated hole in the lower left corner to allow for easy attachment to a key chain ormobile phone, eliminating the need for cardholders to carry a wallet or purse.
Bruce Mansfield, general manager of Visa Australia and New Zealand, said the VisaMini was an innovative product that would provide customers with greater choice and ahigher level of convenience.
“Australians are increasingly looking for convenience and the mini card’s portabilitycomplements other products such as mobile phones and PDAs, which are all becomingsmaller and more compact to suit consumers’ mobile lifestyles."
The Visa Mini was first launched in the United States in July 2002 and has proven ahuge global success for Visa with more than 22 million cards issued.
The mini card’s patented magnetic stripe has resulted in a card that measures a mere 40mm by 60 mm, making it the smallest card in the market place.
“We are finding that consumers are increasingly using electronic payments for routinedaily low value purchases as a convenient alternative to cash, so the development of theVisa Mini was a natural step in increasing card accessibility,” added Mansfield.
Customers will be able to use their Visa Mini card at more than 20 million point-of-saleEFTPOS terminals with swipe readers around the world (swipe terminals account for 80per cent of all terminals in Australia). The Visa Mini also comes with a full-sized creditcard for use in ATMs and non-swipe terminals.
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