wave and pay

April 15, 2009 at 6:54 am Leave a comment

Replace your credit card with your mobile phone – NYT reports that in a significant move to take mobile payments mainstream, Visa has announced the launch of its mobile payment service using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.

Shoppers can make a purchase by simply waving the phone close to a contactless reader at the merchant. Currently available in Malaysia, the service will be gradually expanded to other regions.

Any one fancy a “Citibank Nokia Vodafone Visa Gold” phone?

As for convenience, the technology standard will ultimately allow you to load multiple accounts onto one phone. The program allows phones to be used to pay for parking and public transit fares through a separate account.

Eventually, the system will allow credit and debit card accounts from multiple providers and payment brands. You need to run an application on your phone to switch the default account that is charged when you swipe the phone over a terminal.