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According to Silicon.com, Barclays is going to start replacing all the debit cards in circulation with new cards that have an NFC chip inside them. Apparently, from March, replacement cards will contain the chip, which will allow users to pay for items under £10 by swiping over a reader.
The swapout is estimated to be complete by 2011 – wow, that’s some serious logistics going in to that then – 3 million cards with NFC in circulation by the end of 2009 is quite some target too!
Quite a few UK retailers already accept contactless payments, but I wouldn’t say it is widespread (from my experience) – I suspect you might find a very high concentration of NFC-enabled retailers in London for example….
I’m all for NFC, but personally I want to see it inside a mobile device – heck, I’ve got my music player in my phone, some cash/credit in there too would be perfect!
[Via: Silicon.com]
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.
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