MasterCard launches Developer Zone website

Last month MasterCard started quietly testing their new Developer Zone. The company explained: “Over the past few months, MasterCard developers have tested the site, the initial services, and created a few cool apps. And now, we are confident and excited to enable a small group of external developers with exclusive access to our site and services. As you can see, our site provides sample code, SDKs, libraries, forums and blogs, as well as a mechanism to request development keys that will allow developers to code and test in the sandbox.”

There are three initial sets of API services -- for payments processing, for offers, and for location. The payments processing APIs are card brand neutral and appear to take the place of a traditional gateway. Merchant accounts are not provided and must still be obtained from a merchant acquirer.