MasterCard Certifies More NFC Devices For PayPass

Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, RIM, Nokia and Intel sign up to payment system

MasterCard has certified a number of Near Field Communication (NFC) smartphones for its contactless payment PayPass system. The phones will be able to make use of the new PayPass certified branding, which can be used on the packaging and advertising for compatible devices.

Standardization Drive

The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9360/9380 have been certified, as have been the Nokia 603, Nokia Lumia 610 NFC, the LG Optimus Elite and LG Viper 4G LTE. Samsung’s Eave Way, Galaxy mini 2, Galaxy S Advance and Galaxy Nexus are also compatible, along with the Sony Xperia, S, P and sola. Even Intel’s Smartphone Reference device and the recently-released HTC One X have been added to the list.

Phones from Nokia and RIM will be the first to bear the new PayPass certified branding, which indicates it can be used at any one of the 124,000 American and 311,000 worldwide locations that support the technology.

“In the near future, millions of phones will ship with NFC technology embedded within them,” said Mung Ki Woo, group executive for mobile at Mastercard. “The new PayPass Ready identifier will help consumers make informed device purchasing decisions by providing a visual mark that indicates devices are certified to make simple, smart and secure payments via the MasterCard PayPass network.”

The announcement is the latest development towards the standardisation of NFC technologies as more and more users want to make payments using their mobile. NFC has continued to gain momentum, despite lingering security concerns and criticisms over the suitability of the technology.

Via: TechWeekEurope