Smartphone makers bag Mastercard secure payments badge

HTC, RIM and Samsung are among a tranche of smartphone makers who have had their devices approved to carry out contactless Mastercard payments.

The handsets are the first to receive the new Mastercard PayPass Ready certification. It is designed to let end users know their devices have been approved for use with the credit card company's contactless payment system.

Mung Ki Woo, group executive of mobile at Mastercard, said: "In the near future, millions of phones will ship with [near field communications] technology embedded within them.

"The new PayPass Ready identifier will [provide] a visual mark that indicates devices are certified to make simple, smart and secure payments via the MasterCard PayPass network."

The devices covered by the scheme include the Blackberry Bold, the Blackberry Curve, the HTC One X, the LG Viper and the LG Optimus Elite. Several members of the Samsung Galaxy, Sony Xperia and Nokia smartphone families have also won Mastercard's approval.

Andrea Bacioccola, NFC lead programme manager at Nokia, said the firm was pleased with the Nokia Lumia 610's inclusion in the list.

"This sends a clear message to operators, banks and other service providers that Nokia is able to quickly enable their payment services on this smartphone," he said.

Andrew Bocking, senior vice president of software product management at RIM, added: "[The branding] provides consumers with a visual confirmation that an NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone can easily be [used] with a MasterCard account for tap-and-go payments."