Orange-Barclaycard give contactless payment tech to Samsung Galaxy S3 users

Mobile wallet

Mobile operator Orange has joined forces with Barclaycard to allow Samsung Galaxy S3 owners to make contactless payments using the firms' Quick Tap service.

The two companies claim the deal means the Galaxy S3 will be the first Android smartphone capable of making Quick Tap payments.

New pay monthly Orange customers or those upgrading their handset to a Samsung Galaxy S3 can use the device to make Visa payments of up to 20 from tomorrow.

S3 users will first need to download an app to activate the service, which will allow them to make payments by tapping the device against a till point payment terminal.

Mobile payments are safe and have a full fraud guarantee.

Orange customers that download the app before Friday 5 October will also receive 50 to spend for free.

The technology tie-up between the two firms comes hot on the heels of last week's news about Orange's parent company, Everything Everywhere, signing a similar deal with MasterCard.

Simeon Bird, director of propositions at Orange UK, said: "Contactless mobile payments are a secure and convenient alternative to cash and cards and we are pleased to be the first network in the UK to offer its customers such an innovative service."

Tom Gregory, head of digital payments at Barclaycard, added: "Mobile payments are safe and have a full fraud guarantee and we've seen ever growing numbers of people using contactless to make quick and secure payments of up to 20."

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.