A number of telcos, handset manufacturers, and Mastercard have joined a mobile banking standard which combines the Mifare chip by NXP and Felica by Sony..."By combining this secure chip with an NFC chip, a universal contactless IC (integrated circuit) platform can be created for mobile phones,” Mifare and Felica said in a statement. The big news is that Nokia has signed on, along with Samsung and LG (and I assume Sony Ericsson isn’t going to stand against parent Sony) which covers a significant portion of the handset market. The telcos who have leapt on board include KPN, Maxis Communications, Mobilkom Austria, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, SKT, and Wind, reports Reuters. They join 14 carriers already trialing the system, including China Mobile, Vodafone, Cingular and Telefonica. Trials with the new standard Pay-Buy Mobile are slated to start in October, and will allow consumers to use the phone as a wallet or payment system by waving it over a wireless reader and punching in a PIN.

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