Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and Telefónica are joining forces to develop a standardized m-payments logo and terminology in order to promote their NFC payments and marketing platform among European consumers, reports Marketing Week.
The as-of-yet undeveloped logo and terminology marks a significant move from Europe’s three largest mobile operators in a field that is heating up due to competition from Google and Apple, says MW.
“The general aim of the logo will be to keep it as simple as possible and hopefully we’ll have it ready to go out by the end of the year after regulatory clearance,” Tobin Ireland, Vodafone Group’s commercial development director told MW. “We’re yet to agree on the terminology that will be used publicly about NFC, but we need to describe the benefits of it in a way people will understand.”
An O2 spokesman added that standardizing the logo and terms should help to “prevent fragmentation” in the m-payments market.
Consumers should eventually see the logo appear on POS terminals, ticketing stations and other retail locations, indicating where the technology is accepted - a key to popularizing mobile payments, says Daniel Gurrola, VP of strategy for Orange, a joint stakeholder in Everything Everywhere alongside Deutsche Telekom.
Announced just two weeks ago, the partners’ joint venture has already begun trials for contactless mobile payments and marketing in the UK, according to Ireland.
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