14 DAY TRIAL // Starting with the next year, owners of Blackberry devices in Europe will be able to enjoy new capabilities on their devices, including NFC features, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion has just confirmed.
The company announced a partnership with Telefónica Digital aimed at bringing the Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry to devices as part of a trial conducted on a number of 350 employees at the company’s headquarters in Distrito Telefónica, Spain.
For this trial, the duo will collaborate with a series of local banks and retailers, enabling participants to make payments through their NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone.
“Employees that are part of the NFC pilot project will also be able use their BlackBerry smartphone (in lieu of a security card) to gain physical access to the Telefónica headquarters office,” RIM explains.
The new Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry application is available now with support for: BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380, all of which are based on the BlackBerry 7 operating system.
“We have chosen the BlackBerry solution for this pilot because of the security that the platform brings,” Julio Linares, COO from Telefónica, S.A., stated.
“RIM’s participation has been key for this pilot project, and we are now planning to extend the project to more and more Telefónica employees around the world.”
The new Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry was designed to make use of SIM-based NFC capabilities, while delivering a simple interface to be used for managing cards.
The application is meant to work as a wallet, providing users with information on each and every card put inside it.
As soon as one card has been selected, a series of options are available, including the ability to make transactions, access account balances, or receive confirmations from the bank.
“RIM is committed to supporting the advancement of NFC and its many applications in the market,” explained Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM.
“We have a strong partnership with Telefónica Group and we are very proud to participate in this important pilot, which allows people to use their BlackBerry smartphone in place of separate physical cards for mobile payments and building access.”