Vodafone SmartPass arrives in the UK

OK so credit to vodafone, I have set the app up on my phone and it went very smoothly...look forward to receiving the phone tag in the mail as I only have an iPhone 5.

BUT...this is another stored value system the only real use case for which I can really think of is so that I can use it instead of getting my bank card out of my wallet at contactless Tube/Oyster gates. But then why not just use my oyster card if I'm going to top up?

So not materially more convenient + stored value. The user offers will need to be incredible for this to take off. I feel sorry for the dev/product team as looks like they have done a really good job but I fear Apple Pay will blow this out of the water.

It was actually soft-launched over a year ago - Just don't try using it at the Vodafone office in London or at their HQ is Dusseldorf, because they won't accept it for payments under £5 the last time I was there...works fine elsewhere. Even on TfL - but the inspectors can't tell if you have swiped because there is a flaw in their equipment that doesnt pick up the smart pass sticker

I think the announcement (and the actual app description in the Play store) is somewhat misleading. If your phone has NFC capability or not is irrelevant. The app does not use the NFC capability of the phone, it is merely an account portal. You still need a 1980's sticker - nothing new here at all

MNO's should stick to their core business, telephones.