MasterCard has announced certifications for 17 NFC phones as well as its own mark that handset makers could display on device packaging, advertisements or even on the devices themselves, showing the phone is able to do contactless payments with MasterCard PayPass.
The list of certified devices includes four BlackBerrys, three each of Samsung’s Galaxy series and Sony’s Xperia line, along with two LG phones, as well as the HTC One X and the first NFC-enabled Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 610. Intel’s smartphone reference device, which at least five handset makers have said they would produce, is also on the list. UPDATE: MasterCard later added the newly announced Samsung Galaxy S III to the list. END UPDATE.
Most of the phones are certified to support only MasterCard’s PayPass application on SIM cards via a single-wire protocol connection. But four of the phones, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X, LG Viper 4G LTE and LG Optimus Elite are certified to run PayPass on embedded secure chips.
