The notion of contactless payments with the help of a mobile has been around for quite some time. However, we didn’t see any large-scale use of such a feature so far. This may change as the Samsung Galaxy S3 gets a contactless payment service, thanks to Orange and Barclaycard.
With this, the Galaxy S3 has effectively become the first ever Android phone to make use of a contactless payment service – that’s what Orange and Barclays claim, although we remember seeing some tests done with the Galaxy Nexus… Now Galaxy S3 users will simply have to tap their smartphone against the NFC pad and that will automatically make payments to the tune of £20. Of course the feature works only on limited retail outlets.
To get the ball rolling, Orange will ‘gift’ £50 to new users who activate the feature which will become available from September 5th. The money for the feature can be loaded from MasterCard, Visa, debit or credit card.
According to the Director of Propositions at Orange Uk, SImeon Bird, “We are really excited to be launching Quick Tap payments on one of the most popular smartphones of the year. Contactless mobile payments are a secure and convenient alternative to cash and cards and we are pleased to be the first network brand in the UK to offer its customers such an innovative service.”
Filed in . Read more about Android, Galaxy S3, NFC, Orange and Samsung.