O2 trials mobile phones as digital wallets

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O2 completes Near Field Communications technology trial that could see our mobiles integrating Oyster travel cards and even credit cards.

The possibility of leaving the house needing nothing more in your pocket than your mobile phone has drawn closer today, with the announcement from O2 of a successful trial of Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.

NFC enables users to make purchases simply by touching a compatible device, be it in a card or a mobile phone, against a reader.

O2 said that nine out of ten of the trial users of the O2 Wallet scheme were comfortable with using the technology. 89 per cent were particularly keen on the Oyster travel card functionality, while two thirds were interested in having Barclaycard's Visa payWave system in the phones too. This contactless payment system is already available on Barclaycards's OnePulse credit card.

The trial involved 500 participants and took place over a six month period between November 2007 and May 2008 using a special NFC-enabled Nokia 6131 handset.

With the technology potentially limited to certain mobiles, 47 per cent of trial users confirmed that it would have an influence on their future mobile phone choice phones or devices. Giesecke & Devrient, the company that handles Barclaycard's secure data management said that in the future it plans to place all its applications on NFC-enabled SIM cards. Therefore, any mobile with a required NFC antenna should be able to use the technology, in the same manner that any mapping software can run on a GPS enabled phone.

"Imagine going out for the night and only taking your mobile phone with you" said Claire Maslen, head of NFC at O2. "This trial takes us one step forward to achieving this by demonstrating that people want the convenience and practical benefits offered by services like the O2 Wallet."

However, turning our mobile phones into a digital wallet will not be easy and will require cooperation and coordination from the disparate technology and service providers.

"In theory, any card that you carry in your wallet could be on your mobile in the future," said Maslen. "To that end O2 will be proposing an industry taskforce with the aim of bringing together mobile operators, handset manufacturers and key players from the transport and finance sectors to form the foundations for commercial NFC on mobile services."

Benny Har-Even
Benny Har-Even

Benny Har-Even is a twenty-year stalwart of technology journalism who is passionate about all areas of the industry, but telecoms and mobile and home entertainment are among his chief interests. He has written for many of the leading tech publications in the UK, such as PC Pro and Wired, and previously held the position of technology editor at ITPro before regularly contributing as a freelancer.

Known affectionately as a ‘geek’ to his friends, his passion has seen him land opportunities to speak about technology on BBC television broadcasts, as well as a number of speaking engagements at industry events.