RIM and Turkcell partner to bring NFC payments to Bold 9900, Turkish pazars
Turkcell subscribers looking to make a purchase from their favorite Istanbul bazaar now have one extra payment option -- if they're a BlackBerry Bold owners, that is. Research In Motion and Turkcell have announced the availability of touchless NFC payments for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 via Turkcell's Cep-T Cüzdan mobile application. Interested parties can visit their local Turkcell retailer to trade-up to an NFC-compatible SIM, load the Cep-T application and begin swiping their Berry wherever (worldwide) MasterCard PayPass is accepted. Purchases under 35TL (around $20) won't require any additional verification, though procurements over that threshold will require you to enter a PIN on the handset or tender your signature. Hopefully, with MasterCard, Visa and Google all aboard the NFC bandwagon, 2012 will see a major push towards the technology here in the US.
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First commercially available NFC-based mobile payments for BlackBerry smartphones via MasterCard PayPass™
Waterloo, ON and Istanbul, Turkey - Turkcell and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the commercial availability of an NFC mobile wallet application, the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan, for BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone customers in Turkey.
The power of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 combined with the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan application enables Turkcell customers to enjoy making payments in a simple, easy, safe and convenient way by simply tapping their NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold 9900 against a MasterCard PayPass™ reader in shops, retail outlets, cafes and restaurants across Turkey. In addition, Turkcell customers travelling abroad will also be able make payments in the same way .
Alexandra Zagury, Managing Director, Turkey, RIM said, "We are pleased to partner with Turkcell to launch the first commercially available NFC mobile wallet for BlackBerry smartphone customers in Turkey. RIM is committed to supporting the advancement of NFC technology and today's launch marks an exciting milestone for the future of mobile commerce."
Cenk Bayrakdar, Turkcell Deputy General Manager, Turkcell said, "Turkey is leading the way internationally in mobile financial services, especially NFC. The Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan application for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 opens up a new era of shopping, enabling simple, secure and convenient mobile payments at approximately 60000 contactless points of sale across Turkey. The security features of BlackBerry smartphones make RIM the ideal partner for enabling NFC-based mobile payments."
From today, Turkcell's BlackBerry Bold 9900 customers can apply for the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan service at Turkcell stores. Customers will be provided with a new NFC-enabled SIM and advised on how to download the Turkcell Cep-T Cüzdan application for free. As part of the registration process the customer's MasterCard details will be securely registered by Turkcell to enable payments of up to 35 TL per transaction with no pin or signature, using their BlackBerry Bold 9900. For payments over 35 TL, pin or signature support is also required.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 smartphones are the world's first SIM-based smartphones to receive MasterCard PayPass handset certification for secure NFC payments: http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=5263
