Nokia 6216 Classic packs NFC for contactless payments

It's 2009 and we're still waiting for the Near Field Communication revolution. However, due to tough economic times and a lack of consumer devices, planned commercial NFC rollouts will likely be pushed into 2010. Still, we can add one more device to the NFC tally -- the Nokia 6216 Classic. The 6216 is Nokia's first handset with an embedded NFC chipset that communicates with NFC applications stored on the SIM. That little trick keeps the carriers happy while allowing consumers to keep their credit card info and contact-less ticketing and payment applications on the SIM for easy mobility between NFC devices. A good thing too, since this middling 3G candy bar with camera, FM radio, and microSD slot will be of limited appeal to most.

Read -- Nokia 6216 Classic
Read -- Economy, standards stand in the way of NFC

[insky Posted Apr 23rd 2009 5:03AM]

*sigh*

[Frostblade10 Posted Apr 23rd 2009 5:16AM]

Sweet! I dont have to steal credit cards anymore! I get a free phone, money, and it's easier than ever to do so!

[Shinigami Posted Apr 23rd 2009 6:50AM]

Don't forget you'll need to enter pin on your phone each time you want to pay for something.

[AM ERROR Posted Apr 23rd 2009 8:08AM]

$100 of your monies says your PIN is 1234 or the last 4 digit of your phone number...

stupid Nubz...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 5:40AM]

997,403,889 at say 100 downloads a person ... 9 million people with no Software Ethics.

Nice.

[gp Posted Apr 23rd 2009 5:54AM]

Put your iPhone wherever it most pleases you.

[PrivateFlank Posted Apr 23rd 2009 6:24AM]

Wow! Cool!, the Nokia N97 will be my primary device and this would be my secondary device which also doubles as my credit card. Awesome!!!

[sockatume Posted Apr 23rd 2009 6:44AM]

You're going to carry two phones everywhere?

[CJ Posted Apr 23rd 2009 7:39AM]

No, it's (sigh) ANOTHER of Shugg's alternate trolling names.

I'm telling ya Engadget, you need to implement IP bans already

[Shinigami Posted Apr 23rd 2009 6:49AM]

100 downloads per person? What exactly are you downloading?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 8:11AM]

@JamesR

FYI- You can add 400-500 for me alone.

[zachavm Posted Apr 23rd 2009 9:03AM]

Making spending easier less accountable than ever! Nothing like what got us in to this financial mess to begin with.

In all seriousness though, this is cool. The problem is that more than half of the US (just my off-the-cuff estimate) probably aren't responsible enough with their money for this. The same can be said for credit cards, but that hasn't stopped them.

Anyway, I'm kinda old school on this stuff. I think Credit Cards, payday loans, and similar short-term high-interest loans should be done away with as they really just take advantage of the fiscally ill-prepared.

[GingerFox Posted Apr 23rd 2009 12:18PM]

i thought these were only for small payments like under £10? i might be wrong though so i duno

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 11:00AM]

very nice phone....

[lettcco Posted Apr 23rd 2009 10:42AM]

you guys don't know what you are missing. I have used something similar to this in Hong Kong call Octopus card, and anywhere you go you just wave and go. bus/subway/7-11/parking. Another proof that US will be a 3rd world country in the near future.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 2:51PM]

Being an early adopter for new technologies, I was invited a few months ago to participate in a pilot operated by ING Romania using this mobile phone in conjunction with a couple other services.

Basically, the phone has a NFC chip built-in, which allows it to communicate with NFC communication devices connected to POS in selected locations, just like the VISA/MasterCard card processors. But the actual transaction is confirmed online; this is why a mobile Internet subscription is required in addition to the regular GSM service. Payment is not possible in areas without 3G coverage, as the communication doesn't work properly on basic GSM connection. In addition, the phone has an embedded cryptography chip to keep communication highly secure. So this phone is NOT the same with the RFID/other wireless/contactless payment cards out there.

ING has also created an electronic payment service accessible through an application on the phone, communicating with the bank's systems. The service behaves like a prepaid card, which you can recharge from your savings account. It was designed for small purchases (news stand, pharmacy, corner shop, movie theatre), so the largest payment allowed was around $25 and the maximum balance on the card around $100.

The cool stuff was about using NFC for other things - for example, a movie poster outside the cinema could include a NFC chip; touch it with the phone and get an instant discount before going to the ticket booth.

I chose not to join the pilot, but I did attend the presentation and had a chance to fiddle with the system. If you've got questions, shoot.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 23rd 2009 3:16PM]

Whoops, my bad; the phone used in the ING pilot was the Nokia 6212 Classic. Not that I see much of a difference in 6216...

And before you ask, I didn't join the pilot because:
a) mobile Internet is still a rip-off in this corner of the world;
b) the phone remained the property of the bank, carrying a hefty penalty for losing it;
c) the pilot had a mandatory minimum number of monthly transactions, while the number of NFC-enabled locations was very low;
d) the pilot had a limited duration (actually, I believe it should be ending one of these days), and the NFC payment service will be discontinued, making the NFC feature useless for an indefinite amount of time;
d) the big one - I had to either stop using my current personal phone, which meant ditching some features I was depending on because the 6212 is otherwise pretty plain and dumb, or to get used to the idea of carrying around one more mobile phone with a second mobile service subscription and solely for the NFC payments service. That's a bit too much to ask for.