BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Curve 9360 to get Mastercard PayPass certification

Research In Motion (RIM) announces BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 models will be the first SIM-based NFC smartphones, getting certified by MasterCard Worldwide as PayPass-approved gadgets.

The certification was granted to these handsets, as the BlackBerry smartphones matching the requirements of functionality, interoperability and security. This certification makes any MasterCard PayPass-issuing bank globally to deploy MasterCard PayPass-enabled accounts to the SIM card of such smartphones meeting all the requirements.

The ecosystem let the users to take benefit of the certified BlackBerry devices for NFC payments, which is growing faster as it is safe and secure mode of transactions.

France Telecom, Orange is the first operator across the globe featuring commercial NFC launches in two nations, UK and France. Moreover, also conducting trials in several European markets.

"We are happy to offer the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 as part of the Orange range of mobile NFC devices. We are committed to actively marketing NFC devices, and these new smartphones will help accelerate the adoption of mobile NFC services secured by an Orange SIM, including mobile payments," commented Vincent Barnaud, Director of Contactless Services at France Telecom - Orange.

Mung Ki Woo, Group Executive, Mobile at MasterCard Worldwide says, "MasterCard is proud to be the first to certify these popular BlackBerry smartphones for mobile payments, and offer consumers another simple, easy, safe and convenient way to pay. In card payments, MasterCard has long been a leader in the testing and certification of products - for the benefit of customers, issuers, merchants and acquirers. We are delighted to extend this leadership role into the mobile payments arena and applaud RIM's efforts to usher in the next phase of NFC adoption by delivering compliant devices to the market."

Lets see how it actually works and how people find this feature on their BlackBerry smartphones. However, it will definitely take some time to come India.