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…so says Nokia.
The statement is based on the results of a trial run between a number of parties, including the aforementioned Finnish vendor, O2, London Underground, and Barclays. In the “O2 wallet” trial, users carried an NFC-equipped Nokia 6131 mobile, which was able to make payments much as an Oyster card (season pass for London Underground) would do. It was also able to make retail payments using “Barclaycard Visa payWave” in certain stores – and all via the magic of contactless (NFC) technology.
NFC relies on inductance to create a current that is then passed through a chip in (typically) a plastic card, but in this case, a mobile device. The technology has long been around in Japan with Sonys Felica system, however, this trial of 500 people reasonably proves the demand over here.
- 78% said they would be interested in using contactless services if available. Convenience, ease-of-use and the status of having such an innovative device were seen as the main benefits
- Interest in having Oyster on their mobile phones was particularly strong with 89% of trialists saying they were interested in taking this up
- Over two-thirds of trialists also said that they would be interested in having the Barclaycard Visa payWave feature on their mobile in the future
All sounds good to me – give all the upcoming Nokia devices some form of NFC, and you never know, this idea might just develop the critical mass it needs to go mainstream!
You can read the full Nokia PR here.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
