Most users would be happy to
pay for travel and buy goods using a mobile phone, says mobile
operator O2.
O2 has announced the results of a trial which saw 500 London
customers given mobile phones equipped with
near field
communications (NFC) technology, to make
Oyster travel and
Barclaycard wireless payments.
NFC allows a phone to be used to pay for items by being put
against payment points.
O2 said nine out of 10 trialists were happy using NFC technology
on a mobile phone, and 78% said they would be interested in using
such "contactless" services if available in the future.
Convenience, ease-of-use and the status of having an innovative
device were seen as the main benefits.
Interest in having Oyster on their mobile phones was
particularly strong, with 89% of trialists saying they were
interested in taking this up.
More than 66% of people also said they would be interested in
having the
Barclaycard
Visa payWave feature on their mobile in the future.
The O2 Wallet trial took place over six months between November
2007 and May 2008 and involved 500 trialists. It tested consumer
demand for having cards you would normally carry in a wallet, such
as Oyster and credit cards, available on a Nokia 6131 NFC mobile
phone.
To travel on London's transport system or make purchases in
retail stores, the user simply touched the phone against a reader.
The trial involved O2, Transport for London, Barclaycard, Visa
Europe, TranSys, Nokia and AEG.
"Imagine going out for the night and only taking your mobile
phone with you," said Claire Maslen, head of O2 NFC. "This trial
takes us one step forward to achieving this by demonstrating that
people want the convenience and practical benefits offered by
services like the O2 Wallet."
Having Oyster on their mobile phone encouraged trialists to
increase their use of public transport. Twenty two per cent using
Pay as You Go Oyster reported that they increased the number of
journeys they made on public transport during the trial.
Overall, almost 50,000 tube journeys took place using the O2
Wallet during the six month trial.
The Barclaycard Visa payWave payment application was also
installed on the handset, enabling trialists to make contactless
payments for £10 and under at retailers across London. These
included Books Etc, Chop'd, Coffee Republic, EAT, Krispy Kreme,
Threshers and Yo Sushi.
As well as making payments, participants could also use their
Nokia 6131 NFC mobile phone to locate local retailers.