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Visa and Nokia have teamed up to produce a global platform that would turn mobile phones into wallets, enabling users to buy items from stores without having to carry money or cards.
Trials of mobile payment systems have taken place in various countries, but this announcement is the first time a global framework has been put in place, said Greg Storey, Visa’s group manager of operations for Australia and New Zealand.
“Realistically we’ll see some mobile payment trials and/or pilots in the Australian market in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Paying for a purchase would be as simple as swiping the phone over a sensor, which communicates with a small computer chip embedded in the phone. Mr Storey predicts that, within the next five to 10 years, it is possible that about 10 per cent of transactions would be performed on a mobile phone.
The first phone to support the technology, dubbed Near Field Communication (NFC), is the Nokia 6131. It will be available in Australia by the end of the first quarter of this year.
However, once the technology is available, it would be up to retailers, financial institutions and network operators to implement it locally, a Nokia spokeswoman said.
Source:
SMH
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