O2 Money
O2 Money is a range of financial services provided by O2 in the United Kingdom.
Launched on 15 July 2011, O2 Money debuted as line of Visa cash cards issued by O2 and provided by NatWest. The cards enabled O2 customers to use digital currency as an alternative to cash or cheques.
O2 announced in a press release on 23 February 2011 the "second phase" for O2 Money. The phase involves the company’s move away from physical currency through the discontinuation of the Cash Manager and Load & Go cash cards and the release of a "mobile wallet" application for Android and iOS devices. The application will use NFC technology embedded in a phone to access money banked with Barclays via O2.
O2 began trials of NFC technology in 2007, with 500 individuals participating in the trial. The individuals used a specific Nokia handset to make payments at selected retailers, and travel the London Underground with transactions made via Barclays. O2 has since been in discussions with large retailers, such as Tesco and W. H. Smith, for the deployment of the necessary electronic point of sale units, and with handset manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, to enable NFC technology on all future devices.
In February 2010, the GSMA, Samsung, Telefónica, Visa and La Caixa demonstrated mobile payments at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Participating companies provided 400 NFC enabled handsets to guests for use at the Congress. The Samsung S5230 NFC-enabled handsets contained O2 SIM cards pre-loaded with £55 and a La Caixa Visa Mobile Payment application. Participants were able to use the handsets to pay for food and drink up to the value of £70 at 30 locations at the congress.
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