For all the push to contactless cards, this release from Visa, noted by Aneace,  confirms the viability of small payments with no signature is not dependent on contactless.

Last week, Visa reported that its volume on purchases less than $25 in small ticket segments totaled $27.3 billion in the first six months of the year, an increase of 17 percent over the same period in 2005. Those transactions were performed almost entirely using traditional magnetic stripe cards, not contactless cards.

Source: Aneace’s Blog: Visa’s No Signature Required program is working … how will contactless compete?

This service is apparently particularly relevant for 18- 25 year olds, or GenY (not sure where Gen P as noted comes from)

Visa’s survey results also revealed that Generation “P” or Plastic, referring to consumers ages 18-25, is leading the trend of increased use of payment cards for everyday purchases. Sixty percent of Generation “P” prefers payment cards for purchases less than $25, particularly in new and emerging segments such as digital content, vending machines, public transportation, parking and newspapers.

As Banks move to chip, adding on contactless makes more sense in that its faster than chip, and easier for the consumer.  However in the US where there is no chip strategy, the relevance of contactless is certainly lessened considering the costs involved.

tags: chip+cards+contactless, visa+no+signature, MasterCard+qps