So, the telcos want me to use my phone; the very same phone that can barely make a phone call without crashing, that's fails miserably to perform any function that it's advertised to be able to do, and is about as reliable as an alcoholic in an off licence (yes, THAT phone), into a "wallet" that handles my money?

Yea, right!

Seriously? In Helsinki, for example, you can travel on any of the public transport with a mobile phone ticket; there are mobile payable snack machines in the central railway station, and I believe there are also some payable public internet terminals.

It's not exactly shocking or new, this has been already going for two or three years, it's just not terribly widespread either.

Most folk use their PC, running Windows, a system which crashes their computer all the time, has continual security issues, viruses and generally is completely unreliable to pay for things over the internet so what difference does using a phone make?

If you trust Microsoft you'd trust pretty much anyone!!

Paris because shes very trusting as well....

"So, the telcos want me to use my phone; the very same phone that can barely make a phone call without crashing, that's fails miserably to perform any function that it's advertised to be able to do, and is about as reliable as an alcoholic in an off licence (yes, THAT phone), into a "wallet" that handles my money?"

It wasn't a telco calling for this. And perhaps you should actually buy a decent phone rather than complaining, it just makes you look stupid. You are the one that chose to buy that phone.

You must be an iTard or penguinista to spout such tired old bollocks.

Where are the crowds of people campaigning for the introduction of this technology? What real practical purpose does it serve? It seems to me that this is simply an attempt by mobile phone companies (manufacturers and operators) to boost earnings through commissions levied as part of the payment settlement process.

I wonder how much it will cost me per transaction?

Seriously? You can't think of a SINGLE reason why this might be a good idea (and yes, I can think of a few reasons why it might be a terrible idea as well)? Bare in mind this is for small amount (less than £15) cash transactions. So, the first one, you don't need to carry cash. I'm already sold there. I never have cash because I live in a small village without a cash machine and never have time to get to one when I'm at work.

You only need to keep a small amount in your "Cash" account so that, should you lose your phone, the person who finds it can't spend you dry. BUT, 99% of mobiles have data connections so a secure way could be found of topping it up. So that's another reason why.

I could go on...

Hardly surprising.

With mobile phones sales dropping and expected to drop farther in the next few years, phone producers (not the telcos, they have a steady income), chip producers and just about anyone else catering to the GSM market, need a new product.

Viagra for those shirevelled and limply dangling sales figures.

Don't be surprised if this turns out to be completely incompatible with currently existing technology.

....of ridiculous rheotic and ignorance being spouted here.

NFC technology is totally different from GSM, GPRS, 3G, WiFi etc. Think of it more as your Oyster Card with bells on being embedded into the back of your phone. I know Oyster isn't 100% perfect, but it works nearly all the time for almost everyone - this will be the same, and won't be dependent on your phone being in coverage or even switched on.

It's also likely to be free to use - remember that every retail outlet that you use cash in still has to pay that cash into a bank and is charged accordingly each time it does so. There will be an interchange fee between whichever payment partner you use (e.g. Mastercard, VISA, Amex), but that won't be passed on to the consumer. Nor will you get charged by your network per transaction. You might find that a compatible handset costs more in the first place, but that's it.

Advantages? I'd have thought they were fairly obvious - fewer things to carry (all your credit cards could go onto your phone, no travel card needed), never needing to worry about cash / correct change again....

Darn! I forgot to recharge my wallet.

For muggers at least. No longer will you have to hand over your wallet AND your phone, you can give him both in one simple transaction! Now if UK.gov would just put ID cards on the phone, you could add identity theft to the mix.