iPhone 6 boost for Kiwi firm

Darrin Grafton (left) says in the future hotels bills will be paid using phones. Photo / Richard Robinson

Payment technology in new products by Apple boon for software company Serko, says boss.

Mobile wallet technology included in the new Apple iPhone 6 and Apple Watch is a boon for New Zealand software developer Serko, says its boss.

The Auckland-based company, which provides corporate travel booking and expense management software, is developing technology that will allow travellers to use near field communication (NFC) to pay for travel expenses with their mobile phone instead of using credit cards or cash.

NFC is already available on Android mobile devices, but previous iterations of the Apple iPhone have not had the technology.

Watch: Apple unveils two big-screen iPhones and Apple Watch

Serko chief executive Darrin Grafton said Apple's decision to include NFC in the iPhone 6, which was launched yesterday, was a big endorsement of the payment technology.

The payment system, called Apple Pay, will also be available on the larger iPhone 6 Plus and the company's new wearable device, the Apple Watch.

Credit card provider Visa will support Apple Pay in New Zealand from next year.

Grafton said Apple's move into NFC would help the technology become mainstream.

In Serko's case, he said, NFC would enable travellers to simply tap their phone at a payment terminal when, for example, they checked out of a hotel.

"The receipt will automatically transmit to your corporate office and everything is reconciled," Grafton said. "That's going to be the future." In June Serko was granted a United States patent for "travel expense automation" that covers payments from mobile phones through NFC.

Watch:

Apple launches new watch, updates phones

Grafton said the patent meant Serko's main competitor in travel expense management, Nasdaq-listed Concur, could not compete against the New Zealand company in the NFC space.

Serko announced this month that it had secured a three-year contract with US online travel booking company nuTravel Technology Solutions.

The private label agreement will allow nuTravel to exclusively market Serko's new mobile app to its more than 2 million registered users in the US, Canada and Mexico.

"Bringing NFC onto the [mobile] app suddenly changes the game in that US market," Grafton said.

He said Serko expected to announce a launch date for its NFC technology when it launches its mobile product next month.

Shares in Serko, which floated on the NZX in June, closed unchanged yesterday at 87c. They were issued in the company's initial public offering at $1.10.

The company processes around US$3 billion ($3.6 billion) in travel spending across the Asia-Pacific region and has forecast $11 million in revenue for the financial year ending March 2015. Serko is anticipating bottom-line losses for at least two years as it pushes for growth in the US$380 billion Asia-Pacific corporate travel market.