Everything Everywhere and Barclaycard are to launch a contactless mobile phone payment solution for UK consumers by early summer. Barclaycard and Orange, who announced their strategic partnership to bring contactless mobile payments to market in 2009, say that this will be the biggest revolution in payments since credit cards were introduced in the UK over 40 years ago.

Gerry McQuade, chief development officer at Everything Everywhere, says: “This is the beginning of a revolution in how we pay for things on the High Street. It’s a cultural shift that is as important as the launch of the personal credit card or ATMs. We’re making something that’s been talked about for many years a reality and, very soon, using your mobile to buy a sandwich, a cinema ticket or, in time, even something bigger like a computer will simply be the norm.”

“As Britain’s biggest communications company, we’re proud to be delivering this technical and cultural innovation to the UK through the Orange brand. Orange and Barclaycard customers will be the first to be able to use their mobiles to make payments on the high street wherever contactless payments are accepted. This is part of our wider strategy to re-define what people use their mobiles for, with mobile payments being the start.”

Working with the world’s leading handset manufacturers, the new offering from Orange and Barclaycard will enable customers to use their mobiles to pay for goods and services at more than 40,000 retailers that use contactless technology, by waving their mobile phone against a contactless reader. The launch proposition will focus on an industry backed, SIM-based approach to payments ensuring enhanced security for customers, as well as to initially provide a single point of customer care contact. MasterCard will provide the payment capability for the contactless mobile transactions.

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