In reply to Andrei Charniauski.

Meh... Getting into the semantics of it now... and if you really want to argue on that ground, it will be null and void when high value contactless is rolled out, as they will be Card Present transactions, ICC verified, but using a mobile phone...without a card.... But the cardholder would still be present... :) I.e. Cardholder Present transactions.

APACS defines it as Card Not Present... But Visa defines it as Cardholder not present, it doesn't help with documents like the one below where it is defined using both terms in two consecutive pages... It's no wonder there's no clear consensus on it.

http://www.imsp.com/assets/mainmenu/89/docs/Merchant_Best_Practice_Guide_for_CNP.pdf

Personally don't think it really matters... Ultimately the only reason for the distinction is for monetary reasons (interchange) and with mobile wallets on the way doing away with the four party model... Everything will just be a transaction regardless of where, who and when.