Contactless Payment Popularized by MasterCard in The U.S.

This is mobile payment of a slightly different sort, and it's one that is designed in part to speed up the already speedy process of purchasing anything under the sun using your credit card.

You'll remember that we told you about the pay-by-mobile plan that Nokia seems bent on bursting on the public sometime soon. That involved tying a credit card to your mobile phone and waving the mobile over an electronic reader.

Well, this plan is even simpler. It cuts out the middleman, or middle-device. No mobiles needed here.


The plan is being phased in across the U.K., after industry giants Mastercard and Visa gave their approval. What you do is this: Take that credit card, wave it across a special electronic reader, and you're done. No fumbling with keypads and PIN numbers, no waiting for a receipt. Just swipe and go.

It's the kind of contactless payment already popularized by MasterCard in the U.S., at gas stations and convenience stores. It's also the technology behind the Oyster card, which London commuters know very well.

The system will have its trial period beginning very soon, with payments limited to 10 pounds. Assuming success, the system will get a wide rollout in the next year or so, with most of the country's major banks signing on.




Written by Stroe Sorin
Published in Other Tech