Barclaycard and Orange to launch commercial NFC service by the end of 2010

By Sarah Clark | NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com | 11 March 2010, 21:35

Card issuer Barclaycard and mobile network operator Orange are to launch a commercial NFC service in the UK before the end of 2010, a senior Barclaycard executive has revealed. Sarah Mansfield, Barclaycard's head of innovation marketing, mentioned the plan in a presentation at a mobile marketing event organized by the Institute of Sales Promotion and Mobile Interactive Group, according to a report in Wireless Federation:

According to Sarah, at the back end of 2010, the company will have a commercial launch with Orange for mobile payments and the consumers will be able to buy an NFC-enabled phone and make payments with it.

SMS alerts and both iPhone and Android augmented reality applications are also to be introduced that enable customers to find local stores equipped with NFC and contactless card accepting terminals, the article continues.

In January, the two companies jointly launched the Orange Credit Card, a contactless card that the pair described as "the latest step in Orange and Barclaycard's long-term strategic partnership aimed at introducing a broad range of mobile, financial and payment services to evolve the way consumers make payment transactions in the UK." The two have been working together on the development of mobile contactless services since March 2009.

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