Near Field Communications Standard Adopted in Europe, Wireless Payment via Mobile Phones One Step Closer
In a press release today, the Global System for Mobile communication Association (GSMA) announced that the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has adopted the technical standards that govern the mobile near field communications (NFC) services, which are supported by the Association and its members. This clears the way for mobile operators to prepare for the introduction of contactless payment services and other applications that use the short range NFC technology. Last week ETSI selected a software protocol to control communication between handsets' NFC chips and SIM cards, which will allow handset makers to begin mass production of NFC enabled phones.
The GSMA's Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative includes thirteen mobile operators that are currently running or preparing to run trials of mobile NFC payment services. Once the trial period is over commercial services should start appearing that will allow you to quickly and securely pay for goods and services simply by waving your NFC enabled phone near and NFC reader. According to Chief Technology Officer of the GSMA, Alex Snyder, "the software protocol solution chosen by ETSI will make these new services easier to use by enabling consumers to access all the secure applications on their handset, no matter where they are stored, through one common interface."
[via GSM World]
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