Cingular to test near-field cellphone services in Atlanta

Looks like Cingular will work with Chase, Visa, Nokia, Philips and a host of other bigshots to test next-gen NFC (near-field communication services, ala FeliCa) for cellphones at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main benefit of near-field technology is the ability to use a cellphone to pay for products; just wave your phone in the general direction of a point-of-sale terminal at the Arena, and you can buy your hot dogs and brew without missing half of the game. The test will be open to Atlanta Hawks season-ticket owners, who will also have to have Chase Visa accounts (Mastercarders might find this old hat) and be willing to use Nokia 3220 phones modded with an NFC chip. We hope that Cingular and Nokia are at least giving the passholders the phones. It's bad enough being a Hawks fan — these dudes should get something more for their loyalty than an offer that requires them to ante up another $150.

[Thanks, MaXxLife]

[Jvijil @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Why atlanta i don't know but the idea is great!

[Paulie [eatlga] @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

"The test will be open to Atlanta Hawks season-ticket owners"

You mean there is more than one Hawks season-ticket holder? As an Atlanta resident I can't imagine why...

[Kyung @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

this Tech nology has been available in Korea for many years. Every kid and their dog has a cell phone in korea, and they use it to pay for bus rides, sodas at machines and the list goes on. You always see women ass bumping to the reader terminal in busses and a short beep in heard afterwards. While this technology is being tested here in the U.S. it's proven elsewhere.

[TVGenius @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

"test will be open to Atlanta Hawks season-ticket owners, who will also have to have Chase Visa accounts (Mastercarders might find this old hat) and be willing to use Nokia 3220 phones modded with an NFC chip"

But is three people really a good beta test?

[Dave's Football Blog @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Does this mean they'll use AFC in Indianapolis and Denver?

*rimshot*

Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week...

[mwhite @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

"Why atlanta i don't know but the idea is great!"

Probably because Cingular HQ is in Atlanta.

As a season ticket holder (yes, the only one) who was sent this offer (a month ago), I can confirm that the phone is free (service not included) and you get $100 "Atlanta Spirt Bucks" (Atlanta Spirit, LLC owns the Hawks, Thrashers, and Philips Arena) that you can spend on food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Only 125 people are being accepted into the pilot program (I'm not one of them) and you have to be both a Cingular customer and a Chase Visa credit card holder.

The program itself is called FlyBy.

[Fuji @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

@ Jvijil

Another possible explanation is that Atlanta ranks high in cell phone users

http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/14/technology/cell_phones/

[mwhite @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Or it was called FlyBy as of November 4th, I should say.

[Foneguy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

The program is "Flyby", the Hawks GM is Billy Knight, and the Hawks are 4-16. There's a joke in there somewhere.