Swipe your mobile to go on the Tube

So read the headline last night in the London free newspaper, London Lite as pictured above.

The article reports that o2 and Nokia are apparently working together to put an RFID ‘Oyster’ chip inside a handset. You’ll then be able to pay for your travel by swiping your handset over the existing network of Oyster terminals across the capital.

Apparently you’ll then be billed for your travel (or anything you spend via this method) on your mobile bill. Smart. Almost nirvana for the mobile operator as you’d seriously lock in your customers if they were using their handset for these kind of transactions.

For those reading abroad, this is what your standard Oyster card looks like:

Whilst it’s only credit card sized, it does become an arse having to carry yet another ‘thing’ — and it’s another thing to forget. Integrating it into a mobile handset makes sense to me.

A lot of newspaper shops now have Oyster terminals built-in, so you can pay for small value transactions using your Oyster card — ergo you’d be able to pay for a Mars Bar by swiping your mobile. How convenient would that be? How brilliant? FANTASTIC!

We’ll see. I’ll definitely give it a go.

Although, one issue: I change my handset like the wind at the moment…