Across the UK thousands of shops are preparing to trial a new technology which could allow shoppers to purchase items using their mobile phones.

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is set to appear in many high street shops this Summer.

Interestingly, large companies such as Orange and Mastercard are in favour of the move, jointly launching a NFC-ready handset between April and June with a partnership between Visa and O2 expected to do the same later this summer.

So, how does NFC technology work?

• An NFC chip is placed inside a mobile handset
• The chip is then linked to a credit or debit card account
• Shoppers swipe their mobile phones over contactless pay points
• The credit or debit card is then charged
• Shoppers are currently able to spend up to £15 per transaction
• It is as secure as any credit or debit card transaction today

Whilst this technology is set to transform the shopping experience in the future, some critics are concerned that the move will affect small business and independent retailers.

It remains to be seen whether NFC technology takes off.

Jamie Stokes is Marketing Assistant at Total Ltd – a business to business service provider, delivering genuine solutions across all core telecommunication services, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Total Ltd is a business that brings together and unifies all the component parts. For up to the minute business telecommunications news, please view the Total Ltd blog

This entry was posted on Friday, April 8th, 2011 at 9:51 am and is filed under Business Mobiles, Mobile banking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.