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Visa lets iPhone-toting NatWest and RBS customers pay with NFC cases, join the future
Two can play at the UK-banks-with-NFC-payments game. RBS (and by extension, NatWest) is partnering with Visa Europe to roll out TouchPay, a mobile payment system based around an iCarte case for the iPhone 4 and 4S -- sorry, early iPhone 5 owners. In tandem with a native app, the service allows paying for goods at British shops by tapping the phone at a Visa-capable NFC terminal without needing the short-range wireless built-in. Any purchases under £20 ($32) can even skip the PIN code, if you're just in that much of a hurry to get a Pret À Manger sandwich. Only 1,000 of the 9,000 who pre-registered for TouchPay are getting into Visa's wallet-free initiative at this stage, although all NatWest and RBS customers with one of Apple's semi-recent smartphones can participate once a trial run is over. We're just wondering if and when Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 owners get in on the action.
