Mobile-payments trial kicks off in Spain

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  • mobile-payments-sitges-1.jpg

    Residents of the Spanish city of Sitges, near Barcelona, are participating in Europe's largest mobile-wallet trial.

    Instead of handing over cash or a card at the end of a shopping trip, 1,500 locals are getting the chance to pay for their purchases by swiping their mobile phone over a contactless reader at the till.

    The handset that participants are using during the pilot is the Samsung Touch Star, pictured above.

    The device contains an NFC (near-field communications) antenna, which allows it to make contactless payments.

    Unlike in a 2008 London mobile-wallet pilot, the handsets are not pre-loaded with cash but are linked to the trial participants' existing bank accounts — which means they are spending their own money and making the trial more commercially realistic.

    Photo by: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com

    Caption by: Natasha Lomas

  • mobile-payments-sitges-2.jpg

    Once the app is opened, the participant's virtual Visa card is shown inside the virtual wallet. The card is stored on the SIM, which acts as a secure element.

    The other four slots in the wallet are empty for now but Visa envisages other types of cards — such as travelcards and store loyalty cards — being part of a mobile wallet of the future.

    Photo by: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com

    Caption by: Natasha Lomas

  • mobile-payments-sitges-3.jpg

    Feedback from the trial so far shows supermarkets are the most popular locations for the participants to use their mobile wallets, according to Visa and its trial partners.

    For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Photos: Sun, sand, mobile wallets — Europe's biggest m-payments trial on silicon.com.

    Photo by: Natasha Lomas/silicon.com

    Caption by: Natasha Lomas

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Once the app is opened, the participant's virtual Visa card is shown inside the virtual wallet. The card is stored on the SIM, which acts as a secure element.

The other four slots in the wallet are empty for now but Visa envisages other types of cards — such as travelcards and store loyalty cards — being part of a mobile wallet of the future.

Caption by: Natasha Lomas

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