RIM and Telefónica Digital have announced a pilot project titled Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry smartphones in Spain which may just be rolled across a global level at a later date.
As a part of this project, the companies will wheel out NFC enabled payment options to select users’ BlackBerry handsets for testing the security and other aspects of the transactions. The venture will have about 350 employees of Distrito Telefónica as its subjects. The candidates will be asked to make daily transactions using an NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphone. The payments can be made by simply tapping the device against a reader. The entire gig will be carried out in collaboration with several local banks and retailers.
“We are getting ever closer to the point where our customers will be able to take the contents of their wallets and put them on their mobiles,” states Matthew Key, Chairman and CEO Telefonica Digital. “Trials such as this are important to ensuring a great customer experience and we look forward to seeing the launch of commercial wallet services in several markets next year.”
At present, the handsets from RIM which support the technology and are being used in the project cover the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Curve 9360, and BlackBerry Curve 9380. Other than regular dealings, these employees will also be able to use the gadgets instead of a security card. In place of the security card, they will use the smartphone to in the Telefónica headquarters office.
Like we’ve mentioned above, the companies have also conveyed that the services made possible by the Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry smartphones project will roll out globally in the year 2012.