News
O2 completes NFC mobile 'wallet' trial
Tim Green Sep 3 2008, 9:03am
O2 has declared its NFC trial a success but admitted it will take years to roll out a live service.
The operator has just completed the ‘O2 Wallet’ trial, which took place over six months between November 2007 and May 2008 and involved 500 users. It tested consumer demand for having Oyster (travel) cards and credit cards, available on a Nokia 6131 NFC mobile phone. These enabled trialists to travel on London’s transport system or make purchases in retail stores by touching the phone against a reader. Transport for London, Barclaycard, Visa Europe, TranSys, Nokia and AEG were also involved.
Although nearly eight out of ten seemed keen on NFC services, Claire Maslen, head of NFC at Telefónica O2 UK, admitted it would take years for a roll-out, and only then with the backing of "two or three big retailers” and cross-operator support.
The trial showed that:
· 78 per cent said they would be interested in using contactless services if available.
· 89 per cent would be interested in having Oyster on their phones
· Over two-thirds would be interested in having the Barclaycard Visa payWave feature.
· One in five (22 per cent) of those using Pay as You Go Oyster reported that they increased the number of journeys they made.
· Almost 50,000 tube journeys took place using the O2 Wallet during the six month trial.
· 67 per cent said that they found it more convenient to use than a standard Oyster card.
· 87 per cent said that availability of the service would be likely to influence their purchase of a new mobile phone.
The trial also provided insights into the user experience of NFD services:
· 85% of trialists felt that the make and model of the handset would influence their decision to take up NFC services
· Trialists wanted the ability to manage their accounts and view Oyster and Barclaycard balances through the application
· Security – trialists could see the benefits of being asked for a PIN periodically to enhance security
O2 will now propose an industry taskforce with the aim of bringing together mobile operators, handset manufacturers and key players from the transport and finance sectors to form the foundations for commercial NFC on mobile services
