Barclaycard reportedly plans to deploy mobile phones enabled with Near Field Communication payment technology in conjunction with France-based mobile-network operator Orange during the second half of this year. The report did not specify where the phone would be available, and both companies operate in multiple countries.
Officials at Barclaycard and Orange were not available for comment.
Wireless Federation reports that Sarah Mansfield, Barclaycard head of innovation marketing, revealed some details about the initiative this week at a mobile marketing conference in the UK. The UK-based telecommunications industry research group says Mansfield confided that the Barclaycard-Orange NFC service would include applications for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and handsets supporting Google Inc.’s Android mobile phone operating system. The app would enable consumers to locate the nearest merchant locations equipped with contactless terminals that accept NFC payments.
France appears to be the ideal location to deploy NFC-enabled phones, says Nick Holland, senior analyst for Boston-based research and advisory firm Aite Group LLC. The city of Nice is set for what officials there have called “precommercial” launches of the technology for transit and retail payments.
Last year, France-based retailer Carrefour Group had 100 locations that accept MasterCard Worldwide’s PayPass contactless credit and debit payments. The Carrefour cobranded contactless cards include loyalty applications that enable consumers to earn cash-back rewards and discounts on purchases.
“France will be the first place that NFC really takes off,” Holland says.
At the moment, neither the iPhone nor any Google phones support NFC payment. The presentation this week seemed to indicate Apple is developing an NFC-enabled iPhone, and there is speculation the company could release one this summer. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Holland speculates Apple will release an NFC-enabled iPhone, which would open the floodgates for mobile application developers. “If Apple puts the technology in the iPhone, it will be up to others to take advantage of how that can be used in other areas,” such as in NFC-enabled billboards or movie posters, he adds.
A number of financial companies have tested phones with built-in NFC chips that deliver contactless payment capabilities and enable phones to download information from other NFC chips, but very few of these devices are available for sale. As a bridge, some companies are selling stickers that have contactless-payment features and are commonly attached to phones, but they do not actually communicate with the mobile devices.
NFC’s biggest challenge is the development of viable business model that includes mobile operators, card issuers, card networks and technology companies.
Orange and Barclaycard in January launched the Orange Credit Card, a contactless card the companies described as “the latest stop in Orange and Barclaycard’s long-term strategic partnership aimed at introducing a broad range of mobile, financial and payment services to evolve the way consumers make payment transactions in the UK.”
