Olympic and Paralympics London 2012 Games use Galaxy S III for Visa mobile contactless payments
Samsung Electronics and Visa have announced today that the Samsung Galaxy S III 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 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.
'Mobile payment services enabled by NFC technology are gaining momentum around the world. The Samsung Galaxy S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind and is the ideal device to showcase the ease and convenience of Visa's mobile payment application at the London 2012 Olympic Games,' said DJ Lee, executive vice president and head of sales and marketing team of Samsung's mobile communications business.
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.
Sandra Alzetta, senior vice president of mobile at Visa Europe, added: 'Mobile technology has long been a revolutionary force in our lives and NFC-enabled devices such as the Galaxy S III will fundamentally change the way we pay. The future is mobile and cash usage will only continue to decline as people use their mobile devices to manage their money, shop and pay. This summer our partnership with Samsung will showcase all the advantages of the future of payments: security, convenience, speed and flexibility being forefront among them.'
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.
The showcase device is supported and enabled by London 2012 Games partner Lloyds TSB in the UK.
Mike Regnier, personal current accounts and credit cards director, Lloyds TSB, noted: 'Mobile payments are set to transform the payment process around the world, and will revolutionise the way people pay in the run up to, during, and beyond the London 2012 Games. We are delighted to be working with Visa to showcase the flexibility and convenience of this new technology at the world's biggest sporting event, and excited to see the Samsung Galaxy S III in action.'
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.
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 advanced natural language voice recognition software.
