Want an NFC iPhone? Just stick a bank card in it

An iPhone 4 owner who couldn't wait for Apple to add NFC functionality to its handsets has taken matters into her own hands, sticking a contactless bank card inside her phone.

  0 3 comments

Want an NFC iPhone? Just stick a bank card in it

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

It's still not known whether Apple will add NFC to the upcoming iPhone 5, enabling owners to make payments at the point-of-sale by tapping their handsets against NFC readers.

However, with some Google Android handsets already offering the technology, Unplggd's Vivian Kim couldn't wait any longer, taking the back off her phone and sticking a mini contactless Bank of America card to the iPhone's battery.

With few handsets so far having built in NFC functionality, several firms, including Citi and MasterCard have turned to contactless stickers that can be attached to the back of handsets.

Meanwhile, Visa has partnered vendor DeviceFidelity on a microSD-based iPhone case that turns the handset into a contactless payments device although one bank that has trialled the technology, ANZ, recently ditched it.

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Comments: (3)

A Finextra member 

Dear Sirs, Some years ago I saw kids in Tokyo that had glued a contactless card to the back of their mobile phones and thereby upgraded into contactless mobile! Systems integrator: PlasticPadding!

John Dring

John Dring Digital Services and mCommerce at Intel Network Services

Superb!  This is exactly my point that NFC trials have nothing to do with Mobile Operators processing payments, but the existing payment processors who control the (current) POS terminals (as they get cycled to include NFC readers).  The operators is just selling a few handsets. In time, Payment Apps will allow payments via NFC channel to divert funds from SIM resident credit or directly from the mobile account. Such an App, if trusted, could create a nice payments statement for you and aggregate payments from different sources into a single view - useful.

 

A Finextra member 

I also tried this, but the card only works if you hold the phone the right way round. The internals of the phone (most likely the battery) block the signal otherwise.

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