The world's largest mobile operator Vodafone has announced a partnership with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), a leading smart card manufacturer. The two companies aim to develop and drive forward the standardization of a secure storage element for NFC-enabled handsets, that will be the SIM card itself.

With their proven, highly secure smart card technology, SIM cards are the best choice for securely storing information on mobile phones. They can be flexibly and securely managed through the mobile network, allow customer data that is stored on them to be updated using a convenient and secure method. A credit card function can be loaded onto a SIM card over the air, thus not requiring the user to go through any complicated process. Vodafone and G&D will continue developing the specification and plan to make it available during the middle of the year.

This wouldn't be the first NFC pilot project companies are supporting lately. Vodafone has also partnered Deutsche bank, the two companies having announced a project for a new electronic ticketing system based on the NFC technology, with the first pilot to take place later this year on the ICE's Berlin to Hanover service. If the pilot tests prove to be successful, the product will be introduced throughout Germany.

"Our aim with this specification is to lay another key foundation stone for mobile NFC ecosystems. As the leading mobile telecommunications company, we have a special responsibility to offer our customers a highly secure platform for trusted, contactless applications like payment functions. In our view, the SIM card is the ideal platform for this," says Mike Walker, Director of Group Research and Development at Vodafone, explaining the motivation behind the project.