LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC is to launch a mobile wallet service in the UK next month, coming amid the planned launch of a payments platform by Apple Inc, the Financial Times reported Sunday.
Vodafone has developed its own service with Visa Inc which will work with a special SIM card embedded with near-field communication technology which can be used to swipe for payments at contactless tills, the FT said.
Vodafone is planning a consumer launch for the service later in the year but is likely to be beaten to market by Apple, which is set to integrate mobile payments into its forthcoming iPhone 6 handset, strongly rumoured to be unveiled this week.
A spokesperson for Vodafone confirmed that the mobile wallet service will be launched next month.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b7629432-345a-11e4-b81c-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3CfIG5wkj
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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