Fion McCormack

What happens when you cross a SIM Card and a Credit Card? You get SmartPass the new cloud based NFC-based payment system that allows cashless payments via the users smartphone. Developed as a joint venture of both Visa and Vodafone and recently unveiled in Australia, SmartPass is essentially an app. It is available to all smartphones on the Vodafone network that are equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) capability. Most mid to high end smartphones purchased over the past year would have NFC. In addition to downloading the app you would need to order an NFC SIM card from Vodafone. The SIM card and the App work together with a cloud based user account that tops itself up from the users Visa or MasterCard before a payment. The new technology can be used on the high-street as it uses payWave, a type of receiver which is currently installed in more than 100,000 l... (more)