Pay-by-mobile trial gets the nod

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 February 2009 10:51

IT Industry - Market

A contactless payment trial using mobile phones instead of cards has proved successful, and may help pave the way for an international scheme for making small payments by waving handsets.

iTWire reported the commencement of the trial last August.

Run by Telstra (Australia's largest carrier), National Australia Bank (NAB, one of the country's 'big four' banks), and Visa, the trial involved 200 people and 12 merchants in the Docklands area of Melbourne where NAB has one of its largest sites.

With a transaction limit of $A35, the idea was to provide quick and convenient payment for purchases such as lunches and magazines.

The trial involved NFC (near field communication) chips inside the participants' phones, along with a Visa payment application stored in the phones' SIMs.

All users had to do was wave their phones over the merchant's reader - a quick and easy process.

A significant aspect of the trial was the ability to block, unblock or delete the application over the air.

Now the results are in, and it seems all parties were pleased with the payment service.

Find out who said what on page 2.