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Read the Workshop Report.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the potential for standards covering Web payments with a view to making it easier for service providers to monetize Web applications, and provide an effective alternative to the native app ecosystem. In essence, we would like to improve the end user experience and give users greater freedom in how they pay, to reduce the burden on developers and merchants, and to create a level playing field for payment solutions providers.

We are expecting broad participation from financial institutions, governments, mobile network operators, payment solution providers, technology companies, retailers, and content creators. The workshop will seek to establish a broad roadmap for work on open standards for Web payments, along with some concrete proposals for initial steps along the road.

Background

As individuals, we increasingly have many personal devices, e.g. smart phones, tablets, desktop computers, connected TVs, and soon connected cars, and even wearable devices like connected watches. We will want the same choices in how we pay regardless of which device we are currently using. In some parts of the World, in particular in developing regions, people don’t have access to the usual payment solutions such as credit cards, and instead only have access to mobile money. A single payment solution is unlikely to prevail, and to reduce the burden on developers, or just to enable online payments in some cases, it will be important to decouple payment requests from the details of payment solutions. The intermediary can be considered as a virtual wallet, which should be able to hold multiple payment solutions from independent providers, as well as loyalty coupons and prepaid vouchers etc. People will want one wallet that spans their devices, rather than one wallet per device.

Some considerations include the means by which web applications request payments, the interface to the wallet, the API exposed by the wallet to payment solutions, the ability for users to install and uninstall payment solutions, the role of secure elements and trusted execution environments, the role of second factors for authentication, the role of machine interpretable product descriptions and receipts, techniques for combating phishing, and so forth.

A large number of stakeholders are involved in the payment area: the card payment ecosystem (including point of sales payment terminal vendors, banks, card associations and secure financial messaging providers), mobile network operators interested in carrier billing or mobile money solutions, established Internet companies like Google, Amazon and PayPal, as well as start ups with novel solutions, retailers (both online and brick & mortar), content creators, broadcasters, and publishers, and national authorities (with a view to taxation and legislation relating to payments). Some of those may have conflicting interests in the deployment of standard web payment solutions. The workshop will be an opportunity for stakeholders to clarify their positions, to identify a roadmap for further discussions, and to see if we can find shared ground for incremental steps to achieving the aims set out above.

W3C Workshop

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. W3C is organizing a Workshop to explore the potential for defining open standards for Web payments that enable end-users to pick the means of payment from the solutions installed in their wallet or device. Can we design standards that create a level playing field for payment solutions, whether the provider is large or small? Can we offer end users a seamless experience in how they pay across all of their devices? Can we support the value added services associated with payments?

More information is available through the links above about the scope and goals, requirements for participation, who should consider attending, as well as logistical details.

Registration is free although a statement of interest or position paper is needed. See How to submit a position paper.

Program Chairs

Daniel Appelquist, Telefónica

Jean-Claude Barbezange, Worldline

Program Committee

Invited Speakers