Near Field Communications Handsets and Tags, NFC Pilots and Projects

GSMA, Samsung, et al trial NFC payment at Mobile World Congress 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, GSMA, Samsung, Telefonica and Visa, with Giesecke & Devrient, Ingenico, ITN International and La Caixa, collaborated across industries to give Congress attendees an opportunity to experience SIM-based NFC mobile payment.

The participating companies provided more than 400 NFC handsets to guests for use at the Congress. The Samsung Star NFC handsets contain Telefonica SIM cards from O2 pre-loaded with EUR60 airtime credit as well as a La Caixa Visa Mobile Payment Application.


Participants used their NFC phones to pay for food and drink under 10 euros at more than 30 merchant locations around the Congress. Purchases above that amount require a pass code, which the participant keys into the handset before presenting it to the terminal. The transactions are authorized online, with funds deducted from a La Caixa Visa account.

According to GSMA, the goal of the pilot was to raise awareness of NFC technology in anticipation of the commercial launch of SIM-based NFC handsets in the very near future. [end] 

The GSM Association has announced that 45 of the world’s leading mobile operators have committed to supporting and implementing SIM-based NFC services.

Chief among these companies are China Mobile and China Unicom, which account for nearly 800 million subscribers throughout China. Other major operators include Deutsche Telekom, KT Corporation, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Telecom Italia, Turkcell, Verizon, and Vodafone. Click here for a full list.

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As some may recall back in June 2010, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York launched tap-and-go contactless payments for commuters to enter select subway stations and participating bus lines using MasterCard PayPass-enabled terminals. Well, the results are in.

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Mobile payment solution provider I Love Velvet announced that it has reached the second level of EMV certification (EMV2) which authorizes PIN and integrated chip payments from debit, credit and smart cards around the world.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest financial institution, has begun a commercial trial of SIM-based NFC mobile payments, reports NFC World.

The service, dubbed “Move and Pay,” is being tested among 600 Intesa Sanpaolo employees and customers in Milan and Turin, as well as by two academic institutions: The Polytechnic Institute of Milan and Turin ISMB.

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Visa Europe has announced that NFC-enabled smart phones from Samsung, LG and Research In Motion have been certified for use with Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale.

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