Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Visa brings contactless payments to Euro iPhones, dongle required for now

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/02/iphone-icarte-20091119-502.jpg
[/img]
We're still some time away from iPhoners being able to tap cellies
onto payment pads and walk off with purchases, though rumors and
analysts and job postings all say that won't be for long. The lack of
an NFC-equipped iPhone isn't stopping Visa from launching its Visa
Mobile application for trials in Europe, which for now requires an
external attachment, the (somewhat aged) iCarte accessory from
Wireless Dynamics. With the app and the dongle users can start trying
out phoney payments at various NFC-enabled terminals in Europe,
presumably ahead of the release of a proper NFC-supporting iPhone
sometime in the coming months. For now, though, is adding an extra
inch to your handset more convenient than fumbling for a credit card?
We'll let our European readers make that call.

No comments:

Post a Comment