PayMate Partners Nokia For Mainstream Deployment Of Near Field Communication Technology In India

Venture capital backed Indian wireless transactions platform provider PayMate, has developed a near field communication (NFC) technology solution that enables easy display, delivery, and purchase of goods and services using a simple tap and has now partnered with Nokia( that recently launched NFC enabled handsets) to bring NFC to the Indian mainstream.

NFC uses radio frequency identification technology to allow an NFC enabled device to swap information instantly in real time. This technology, is used by Nokia in promotions for the Bollywood movie Ra.One to give away film-related content such as ringtones, games, wallpapers etc. Going forward, the NFC technology has the potential to be used to make easy, quick and smooth mobile payment transactions.

"The NFC technology being quite popular in tech-forward countries such as South Korea and Japan, we are proud to have collaborated with Nokia on the largest deployment of NFC touch points in India, which also happens to be one of the single largest deployments worldwide of NFC technology, and look forward to seeing the potential of NFC in areas such as mobile payments." says Ajay Adiseshann, founder and MD of PayMate.

Viral Oza, director marketing Nokia India said, "To create awareness around this technology, we have deployed NFC chips with unique content across almost 1,000 Nokia outlets in the country. The consumer response to the 'Just Tap' with NFC feature on our smartphones has been very encouraging. We are confident of the potential of this technology in the future and are working closely to get the ecosystem ready for this technology."

NFC solution enables users to access content and services, simply and securely with a single tap of the phone against an NFC touch point. One can exchange text, images, URLs and other data simply by holding one's phone up to various smart tags. It promotes quick and easy sharing of content between two mobile devices as well as with consumer electronics such as cameras, TVs and printers.

PayMate, that is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sherpalo Ventures and Mayfield Fund, has struck various ventures and alliances in the recent past. It partnered with Mahaventures, a fleet management solution provider to launch 'WayPay', India's first cashless mobile purchase management service. It also struck an alliance with IFMR to roll out financial services for rural areas and also announced that it will be powering Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) of Syndicate bank, Lakshmi Vilas and South Indian bank in India