MasterCard Worldwide and ANZ bank will conduct a trial enabling retail payments with a mobile phone, utilising the near field communication (NFC) contactless payment technology.
According to a statement from ANZ, the trial, which started today, is the first deployment of NFC locally. The trial
is being conducted by a small group of ANZ staff, who will use either a contactless sticker or a memory card enabled with MasterCard’s PayPass contactless payment technology.
The statement continues: "The PayPass sticker can be attached to any phone type, while the microSD memory card will be inserted into Blackberry devices. This technology will allow participants to use their mobile phone to make purchases of up to $80 by simply tapping the device in front any MasterCard PayPass terminal.
"ANZ will have MasterCard PayPass-enabled terminals available at major merchant locations from July, including Hell Pizza, St Pierre’s Sushi and Corporate Cabs. More merchants are expected to be announced over the coming months.
"These retailers will join Westpac Stadium and Eden Park, which were the first retail locations to introduce the technology in New Zealand."