This summer will see mobile operator Orange team up with Barclaycard to launch the country’s first
mobile phone payments service.
Some shops already support contactless payments with enabled credit or debit cards, which allow
consumers to pay for smaller purchases by simply passing their card over a special reader, with no
need to enter a PIN. There are an estimated 11.6 million contactless cards currently in circulation.
The new scheme, pioneered by Orange’s parent company Everything Everywhere, will allow
payments to be made in a similar contactless way by customers simply waving their enabled mobile
phone.
Speaking for Everything Everywhere, director Jason Rees said: “Studies show that people are more
likely to forget their wallets than their mobile phones. Trials have proved that customers love it,
they love the simplicity of having their wallet all in one place and it means there is no more need to
carry cash.”
Businesses such as Pret a Manger, the National Trust and Little Chef already have contactless
technology, but more companies are expected to buy in to the scheme by the time of the 2012
London Olympics. Olympic sponsors such as Transport for London and Visa are closely involved in
developing contactless technologies.
David Chan – chief executive for Barclaycard’s consumer division – clearly believes there is a future
in the mobile ‘electronic wallet’. He said: “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.”
The opinion certainly reflects a recent report by the Payments Council, which said that “by 2050,
using cash could well be a minority activity”.
Although Orange customers are set to be the first to benefit from the new mobile payments
technology, Everything Everywhere acknowledged that the service could also be rolled out to their
T-Mobile customers.
