Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai Paying for a coffee, buying a new shirt or taking the Dubai Metro will never be the same again following a major rollout by etisalat yesterday of its new near field communications (NFC) electronic payment services.
Similar to Bluetooth but at close range, NFC phones enabled with MasterCard PayPass and loaded with pre-paid cards will allow users to put away their plastic debit and credit cards and rely solely on their mobile phones in the UAE. A simple tap of the NFC-enabled phone and the purchase is completed.
Etisalat’s cashless payment system will go live by the end of the year.
Yesterday’s launch comes after months of testing the NFC technology at hundreds of outlets across the country — the system is now live on a limited scale and can be used at 600 outlets with no fees being charged to customers.
In a media demonstration at Gitex Technology Week, George Held, etisalat group products and services director group marketing, said the future has officially arrived in the UAE. “You don’t need to carry with you a portfolio of plastic cards,” Held told reporters.
Clutching the first officially approved NFC phone for the new program, the BlackBerry 9900, Held tapped the phone on a smart poster and data was instantly sent to the phone.
By Derek Baldwin?Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
