Barclaycard brings mobile NFC to UK

Works with Everything Everywhere to launch NFC mobile payments at stores from Q2.

The launch will mean consumers can use NFC-enabled phones from Orange and T-Mobile and then use them to make payments from a prepaid account stored on their device.

Loading up of the account can be done from mobile or online via MyBarclaycard, making the phone ready to make payments of £15 or less wherever contactless payments are accepted.

The project between Orange and Barclaycard was conceived in March 2009, but it's taken a while for the infrastructure to be ready for a commercial launch.

NFC certainly needs this roll-out. The tech has got huge momentum behind it now, despite the relative failure of previous schemes and a lack of actual consumer use.

Currently, there are 42,500 points-of-sale equipped to handle contactless payments in the UK.

Still, new announcements around NFC are made every week. In the US, the major carriers have collaborated on the Isis project, while Google's Nexus S phone was the first Android phone to pre-load the tech.

Meanwhile iSuppli says 220m phones with ship with NFC by 2014.