Mobile phone credit card technology on its way

A development firm has indicated that people could be using their mobile phones as credit cards in the near future.

The Symbian Foundation said that Near Field Communications (NFC) technology will play a "key part" in the next-generation versions of the open-source Symbian operating system, Nokia Conversations reported.

S^3 and S^4, as the systems are known, will begin running on phones from late 2010.

NFC allows a device to perform tasks, such as making a payment, if it is held near or against a specially-adapted reader.

Therefore, phones enabled with the technology will be able to be used as credit cards.

They might also be "pre-loaded" with credit in the same way as the Oyster cards currently used on the London transport system.

"Right now there are 466 features being developed for S^3 and S^4," Nokia Conversations added.

"NFC plays a key part of the next generation of Symbian."

Scott Totzke, head of global security at BlackBerry makers Research In Motion, told V3.co.uk this week that he expects mobile phone payments to become "a reality" for many users over the next few years.