Sequent awarded patent for tech turning apps into mobile wallets
Sequent Software, a provider of digital issuance and open wallet platform-as-a-service, announced today that it has received a United States patent for its technology that turns apps into wallets. According to the announcement, Patent No. 8,745,716 recognizes Sequent’s ability to manage security and control usage of credit, debit and other secure credentials stored on mobile devices and allows managed access to those credentials by mobile apps for transactions in the physical environment.
“Patent protection for this critical innovation places Sequent in a position to take a lead in helping popularize mobile payments,” Sequent CEO Robb Duffield said in the announcement. “It is another endorsement of our vision of simplifying mobile payments by allowing consumers to make transactions with the apps they know and trust anywhere in the physical environment with their preferred payment methods.”
Sequent’s solution manages the security of digital card data on the phone and allows for federated access of these credentials securely by approved mobile apps, the announcement said. It also dynamically manages the permissions of multiple applications using the secure element as well as other credentials for transactions in the physical environment leveraging NFC, HCE, barcode and other technologies.
“Businesses that have devoted considerable resources to develop their mobile applications do not want to start from scratch when it comes to mobile payments,” said Jordan McKee, senior mobile payments analyst at Yankee Group, in the announcement. “Solutions that enable commerce capability in existing apps are well positioned to help these businesses preserve their investment while providing an opportunity to cash in on the 66 percent of consumers that are interested in transacting via a mobile device.”
This new, patented technology is leveraged in Sequent’s Digital issuance and Open Wallet Platform products and has been commercially deployed at several major customers in multiple countries, the company said.
“Sequent’s approach gives banks and other card issuers control and flexibility in the deployment of their mobile payment services and ensures their ability to scale their credentials into partner apps in the future,” Sequent CTO David Brudnicki said in the announcement. “It also gives mobile operators, banks, merchants and other app owners an easy path to enable their apps with payments, transit and access control cards without the complexity of interfacing with TSMs, hardware security or secure credentials.”