The O2 Wallet trial allowed users to make payments and pay for London travel using the Nokia 6131 NFC mobile phone.

A six month trial involving over 500 O2 customers in London found that over three quarters want the ‘contactless’ Near Field Communications (NFC) technology on their mobile phones.

Taking place over six months between November 2007 and May 2008, the O2 Wallet trial tested consumer demand for having cards you would normally carry in a wallet, such as Oyster and credit cards, available on a Nokia 6131 NFC mobile phone.

NFC is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimetre (around 4 inches) distance. It allowed users to simply touch the phone against a reader to pay for travel or make purchases – the trial involved a range of industry leaders including O2, Transport for London, Barclaycard, Visa Europe, TranSys, Nokia and AEG.

Nine out of ten trialists were happy using NFC technology on a mobile phone and 78% said they would be interested in using contactless services if available. The main benefits were seen as convenience, ease-of-use and the status of having such an innovative device.

Claire Maslen, Head of NFC, said: “In theory, any card that you carry in your wallet could be on your mobile in the future. To make this a reality we need to work across industry with a shared vision of what commercial services will look like.

“To that end O2 will be proposing an industry taskforce with the aim of bringing together mobile operators, handset manufacturers and key players from the transport and finance sectors to form the foundations for commercial NFC on mobile services.”

Interest in having Oyster on their mobile phones was particularly strong with 89% of trialists saying they were interested in taking this up – in fact, 67% found it more convenient to use than a standard Oyster card. 

Over two-thirds of trialists also said that they would be interested in having the Barclaycard Visa payWave feature on their mobile in the future.

The trial highlighted a few shortcomings, however. While the user interface was popular, trialists wanted the ability to manage their accounts and view Oyster and Barclaycard balances through the application. Secondly, in terms of security, trialists wanted speed and convenience from using their mobile phone but could see the benefits of being asked for a PIN periodically to enhance security, similar to the contactless card experience today.