IOC TOP SPONSORS Visa and Samsung have joined forces to launch an NFC phone in time for London 2012. The two companies have announced they are in talks with several UK operators to launch the “Olympics Phone” with technology to enable mobile payments. The phone will carry Olympic-themed content and sport an embedded app which will allow users to keep track of spending. Payments will be made to compatible tills using NFC or near-field communications technology which is currently being rolled out with banks and retailers in the UK. The companies plan to put the new phones into the hands of high-profile personalities (David Beckham is a Samsung Olympic Ambassador) to use during the Games. Take-up will be limited by the number of people switching to the new handsets but Samsung hope to offer an NFC dongle which will plug into “legacy devices” allowing other Visa customers to use the service.
Visa to dial-up new Samsung mobile technology for 2012 Olympics
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