Holiday Gift Guide »

RIM and Carriers Clashing Over NFC Mobile Payment Control on BlackBerry

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, March 18th, 2011 at 8:48 AM
nfc

The next batch of BlackBerry handsets will have near-field communications installed, which will allow you to pay for stuff by simply tapping your phone on a sensor at retailers. While RIM might have the technical prowess to enable NFC in the hardware, the back-end logistics are apparently proving to be a headache.

According to several sources, Rogers, T-Mobile, AT&T, and others would rather have payment credentials stored on SIM cards, while RIM wants the information stored securely on the device. The battle for control here could determine who (if anyone) gets a cut of contactless transactions. RIM talked a lot about the importance of banks at Mobile World Congress, and we can see why; they’ve been in discussions directly with them over mobile payments, which could potentially keep service providers out of the loop.

RIM has long valued “constructive alignment” with carriers, so I suspect that eventually the service providers will win this fight. If that does happen, it’ll be very easy for end-users to pop out their SIM cards and switch to other NFC-enabled smartphones. Right now the only real alternative would be the Samsung Nexus S, but that will no doubt change shortly.

Which setup would make you feel more secure about having credit and debit information on your phone – stored on SIM, or stored on device? Does it make any significant difference either way to us end-users?

[via WSJ]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • bblover

    If apple and other smartphone manufacturers store the debit/credit information on the phone, then I can see BlackBerry following suit leaving the Carriers out of the revenue pie.

  • Anonymous

    I trust RIM more than AT&T that’s for sure.