By Imogen Crispe
New Zealand’s first ever trial of mobile phone wallets – or virtual wallets – has been met with overwhelming success.
Forty-four people took part in the Bank of New Zealand’s (BNZ) four-month trial, making regular ‘contactless’ payments at two cafes in Auckland and Wellington.
BNZ collaborated with Visa, Vodafone and Paymark for the trial – which included staff participants from the various companies.
Participants used Samsung Galaxy S2 phones equipped with near field communications (NFC) technology and could use them for transactions under $80 by waving the phone over the terminal.
BNZ director of retail Andy Symons says the trial was a success and people involved enjoyed not having to carry cash and cards.
“It really sped things up at the point of sale,” he says.
Of those in the trial, 97 percent of participants said they would use the service if it was launched.
Ninety-five percent of participants said they enjoyed not having to enter a pin for small transactions and 81 percent liked not having to carry a wallet.
BNZ says the technology should be ready for the consumer market in a year.
Some companies and retailers in America such as Starbucks have already implemented ways of paying using mobile phones.
3 News