GUTEN TAP: Mobile payments can be made where customers see a ‘zahl-einfach-mobil’ logo

The largest NFC mobile payment initiative in Germany to date has launched in the capital Berlin, as the country’s three mobile network operators, Vodafone Germany, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica, team up with six major retail groups to update more than 2,000 point-of-sale terminals to support NFC payments in nearly 500 stores.

The NFC City Berlin project, which includes the retail groups Galeria Kaufhof, Real, Rewe Group, Penny, Kaiser’s and Obi, was put together by GS1 Germany. This Cologne-based arm of international standards body GS1 puts in place supply chain standards for the retail, healthcare, transport and logistics industries, so that customers, partners and suppliers can exchange information using a common platform.

The launch of the project means that customers will be able to make mobile payments at participating locations wherever they see the ‘zahl-einfach-mobil’ (Just pay mobile) contactless logo using any of the NFC services provided by the three carriers, including Telefonica’s mPass, Deutsche Telekom’s MyWallet and Vodafone’s SmartPass. NFC stickers are also available from the carriers for those without NFC phones.

Until mid-June, customers making their first mobile payment using the system will get a one-time reward of €10. Posters and flyers inside stores will also help to promote the project and create more awareness among customers, Deutsche Telekom told NFC World.

“We will push, during the next year, attention towards the mobile payments topic to get more awareness from customers and get them involved in the service, to try it out and find out how convenient and secure this payment method is,” a spokesman for the carrier explained.

“We think mobile payments is a topic that has been talked about for a long time. Now we think it’s really the time; the awareness of the topic is there, the terminal penetration is there, the smartphones are there so it’s the right time to give this topic a push.”