These companies collaborated to bring the first ever SIM-based NFC payments pilot to Mobile World Congress.
“It is a fantastic achievement to bring a full payment trial to Mobile World Congress and a testament to the hard work of the partners that this cross-industry collaboration has worked so well,” Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer at the GSMA (
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Participating companies provided more than 400 NFC handsets to guests for use at the Congress. The Samsung (
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Alert) Star NFC handsets have Telefónica SIM cards from O2 pre-loaded with €60 airtime credit as well as a La Caixa Visa Mobile Payment Application.
Participants at the
Mobile World Congress had the option of using their NFC phones to pay for food and drink up to a value of $101 at more than 30 merchant locations around the Congress.
Participants in the trial were allowed to purchase food and drink, simply by holding their Samsung NFC mobile phone against the contactless terminal at the participating merchants to pay for purchases under $13.50. Purchases above $13.50 required a passcode, which participants keyed into the handset before presenting it to the terminal. The transactions were authorized online, with funds deducted from a La Caixa Visa account.
Also, the partners have worked successfully to bring the NFC experience to Mobile World Congress with the intention of raising awareness of this technology in anticipation of the commercial launch of these SIM based handsets in the very near future.
Mobile NFC service is a project is the result of cross-industry collaboration with contributions from multiple partners that includes; Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Telefónica, and Visa, together with Giesecke & Devrient (
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These partners believe that Mobile NFC services would change the way people transact with their phones, everything from payments, traveling and ticketing will be transformed to ensure ease and convenience in the lifestyles of consumers around the world.
Jai C.S. is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Jai's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Amy Tierney
