The Maosco consortium is to abolish charges for multi-application loading to its Multos smart card operating system.
The Multos operating system allows applications such as EMV payment, ID or loyalty to be added to and deleted from a chip card either when the card is issued or while in use, and over insecure channels such as the Internet and mobile phone technologies.
In an effort to encourage uptake of multi-application cards, Maosco has scrapped charges for individual application load and delete certificates. These certificates are required for adding and removing applications on Multos cards.
The consortium says the abolition of key management charges is designed to reduce the lifecycle costs of cards and to encourage post-issuance updating and loading of applications.
"This shift in the pricing structure takes away the decision of whether to deploy cards cheaply or securely," says Steve Everhard, marketing and commercial director of Maosco.