On Friday, Orange and Barclaycard introduced the first mobile phone payment system – QuickTouch – to grace the UK.
The mobile operator and credit services provider say their new Near Field Communications-based mobile payments network will cover some 500,000 UK-merchant locations.
Special NFC-enabled handsets will go on sale, making the mobile payment experience available immediately.
So far just one handset will be available with the Near Field Communication (NFC) system, short-range wireless technology used in many wireless payment systems. The Samsung Tocco Lite phone will be available for £59.99 on pay-as-you-go or for free on pay-monthly contracts from £10 per month on 24 month contracts.
According to the formal announcement by the mobile payments partners, Orange subscribers can transfer small sums of money to their phones in order to cover all purchases made via the new mobile platform.
With mobile security a paramount concern, Barclaycard says that all mobile transactions are subject to the same “100% fraud guarantee” as typical credit card transactions.
Representatives for the companies tell the Financial Times that they “hope mobile payments will become as popular as credit cards, first launched in the UK 40 years ago.”
