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View Full Version : Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard to launch UK’s first contactless payments



Ben
27th January 2011, 11:42 AM
Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard have partnered for the UK’s first contactless payment solution launch – allowing consumers to pay for products using a mobile phone.

The solution, due to launch this summer, will be first available on Orange enabled handsets and will then roll out to its joint venture partner T-Mobile.

Barclaycard and Orange announced their strategic partnership to bring contactless mobile payments to market in 2009. The latest move ‘will be the biggest revolution in payments since credit cards were introduced in the UK by Barclaycard over 40 years ago’, the pair said today (27 January).

The two companies will work with handset manufacturers to enable customers to use their mobiles to pay for goods and services at more than 40,000 retailers by waving their phone against a contactless reader using near field communication (NFC) technology. Nokia’s C7 handset, the Google Nexus S and Apple’s iPhone 5 [due to launch this summer) feature the technology.

The launch proposition will focus on an industry backed, Sim-based approach to payments with enhanced security for customers. Meanwhile, MasterCard will provide the payment capability for the contactless mobile transactions.

Contactless payments will feature as part of the wider Orange portfolio of products developed in conjunction with Barclaycard, which already features a contactless co-branded credit card as well as a forthcoming contactless Orange Cash prepaid payment card.

There are already 42,500 live Barclaycard contactless terminals in retail outlets including Pret a Manger, EAT, and Little Chef.

Everything Everywhere chief development officer Gerry McQuade said: ‘This is the beginning of a revolution in how we pay for things on the high street. It’s a cultural shift that is as important as the launch of the personal credit card or ATMs.

‘We’re making something that’s been talked about for many years a reality and, very soon, using your mobile to buy a sandwich, a cinema ticket or, in time, even something bigger like a computer will simply be the norm.

‘As Britain’s biggest communications company, we’re proud to be delivering this technical and cultural innovation to the UK through the Orange brand. Orange and Barclaycard customers will be the first to be able to use their mobiles to make payments on the high street wherever contactless payments are accepted. This is part of our wider strategy to re-define what people use their mobiles for, with mobile payments being the start.’

Barclaycard Consumer Europe CEO David Chan said: ‘Barclaycard is well known as a leader in helping consumers and businesses to make and take payments in their everyday lives. Finding new and better ways of doing this is what drives us, so it’s exciting, with Orange, to be giving consumers in the UK the choice to make contactless payments on their mobile phone as well as their card. Barclaycard is going to lead the innovation and explosive growth you’ll see in mobile payments.

‘I believe that future generations will find it surprising that early this century we were still carrying separate items to buy goods and to communicate with each other. As payment experts, our role is to make it easier, more convenient and incredibly secure for people to make purchases and manage their money while on the move.’

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/10702/Everything_Everywhere_and_Barclaycard_to_launch_UK ’s_first_contactless_payments.aspx

hecatae
27th January 2011, 11:55 AM
what will be the flagship handset though for this service?

Ben
27th January 2011, 05:13 PM
New iPhone? :D I guess a lot of the manufacturers must have NFC on their product roadmaps now.

If they really want to make a splash they'll launch with a NFC range, rather than just one handset, IMHO. Otherwise it's entirely possible they'll go for an exclusive via someone like HTC and built the whole service around that initially.

getti
27th January 2011, 06:51 PM
Yet another service going to Orange and not T-Mobile according to that announcement.

Hands0n
27th January 2011, 07:06 PM
Orange is the spoiler for me. What an atrocious company that has turned out to be since the acquisition by France Telecom.

But this technology cannot be constrained to one network or manufacturer or it will be stillborn. I'll wait my time for the service to become more ubiquitous across handsets and operators before I jump in. There really is no rush. And lets face it, this is hardly a charitable step by the Banks. They'd not be in this unless there was a tidy sum to be made. Just by not having to licence/produce the actual hardware (Credit and Debit cards) they'll be saving a huge amount. And the punter, that is you and I, will pay for the privilege by purchasing the latest and greatest handsets simply to use them as the next way to relieve ourselves of our hard-earned :)

Yea, I can wait for all of that.

Ben
27th January 2011, 10:37 PM
O2 mentioned in that twitterfest they held today that they see big things happening for NFC in 2011, so I don't think we'll be constrained in terms of choice. Contactless payments don't seem to have gained much traction yet, despite a large number of cards now being in circulation, but as someone who has used contactless several times I can't quite put my finger on why! One of the biggest barriers I suppose is that you pretty much have to ask at the moment if you can pay via NFC - it'd almost be quicker to use chip-and-PIN. The terminals need to be waiting in parallel with the chip-and-PIN machines so that the customer can do one or the other. It's a little confusing when you're standing there with your contactless card and the cashier asks you to enter your card into the machine. :/

hecatae
28th January 2011, 11:03 AM
most chip and pin machines I've seen are NFC enabled, just the NFC part is not active, or the staff dont know how to use it

Ben
28th January 2011, 01:04 PM
Indeed, I think you're right, training and awareness are likely holding back progress at the moment.

Not sure what's going on with reliability either - I've been told on a few occasions that they're not working, but it might just be that the member of staff hasn't used them before.