Samsung and Visa to Showcase Mobile Payments @ the London Olympics
Samsung Electronics and Visa announced that the Samsung GALAXY S III, the latest in smartphone innovation, will be Samsung’s Olympic Games Phone during the London 2012 Games.
A limited edition showcase device enabled with Visa’s mobile payment application, Visa payWave, will be available for Samsung and Visa sponsored athletes and trialists, making it possible to buy merchandise with a wave of the device at thousands of retail locations throughout London.
Samsung’s Olympic Games phone for the London 2012 Games, comes equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) payment capability and is the next step in the partnership between the two global Olympic Games sponsors as they work together to drive the availability of commercial mobile payments around the world.
By the time of the Olympic Games there will be more than 140,000 contactless terminals around the UK. From the moment visitors land at Heathrow they will be immersed in a contactless payment experience with everything from taxis, to retail outlets, to the Olympic Park itself.
The showcase device is supported and enabled by London 2012 Games partner Lloyds TSB in the UK.
Visa payWave for mobile allows users to simply select the Visa icon on their mobile device and hold the phone to a contactless payment terminal to pay. Purchases above £20 require a passcode. The application also allows customers to check their transaction history and view their account balance.
Introducing Samsung GALAXY S III to provide a life extraordinary
Designed for natural, intuitive use, the GALAXY S III is a phone that recognizes, understands, responds, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily. An evolution of the GALAXY S brand, the GALAXY S III is a sleek, smart, and simple phone that offers advanced software and technology, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier.
The GALAXY S III is packed with an array of intelligent, interactive new technologies that responds interactively to the human face, gestures and voice. Using its motion detection software, the phone allows the user to place a call by simply bringing the phone to their ear. Equipped with S Voice, the phone also offers the most advanced natural language voice recognition software.
Stylish, comfortable and elegant, the Samsung GALAXY S III transforms how users experience and share content. It can beam multimedia to other GALAXY S III phones with a single tap or touch; or mirror it directly to a TV or PC screen so that everyone can share in the fun. It’s Pop up play feature brings video multi-tasking to a mobile phone for the first time. Whatever you are doing or sharing, however you are communicating, the GALAXY S III makes it effortless and natural.
How NFC is Transforming Mobile Phones into Payment Devices
NFC technology has been adopted by payment networks, banks, merchants, mobile device manufacturers and mobile network operators as the global standard for mobile payments.
NFC is already becoming the norm: Berg Insight reports that annual global sales of NFC-equipped handsets has increased ten-fold to 30 million devices in 2011 and is forecasted to reach 700 million units by 2016. In addition, an estimated 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014, according to Juniper Research.
Samsung, the Worldwide Olympic Partner for Wireless Communications Equipment, and Visa, the Worldwide Olympic Partner and exclusive payment services sponsor, will be demonstrating this new payment innovation with the GALAXY S III in the Olympic Village and throughout London for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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