Nokia Lumia 610 Coming with NFC for Orange

Nokia announced Wednesday an NFC (Near Field Communication) version of the recently launched Nokia Lumia 610 smartphone in the Lumia range and introduction to Windows Phone for younger audience.

With a set of standards particularly for smartphones, NFC allows contactless transactions among other applications.

Orange will be the first operator to range the Lumia 610 NFC, which can pair with NFC accessories and read NFC tags. The Lumia 610 NFC also has the hardware and software enablers for the implementation of NFC payment and ticketing solutions.

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Meanwhile, France Telecom-Orange and Visa Inc. have announced that Orange Money customers will have access to Visa prepaid account features inside their Orange Money accounts. (Read: Orange to Offer Visa Mobile Prepaid Accounts)

According to Nokia, it has been certified for contactless payments both with MasterCard PayPass technology, and with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point of sale, Visa payWave.

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“Nokia continues to lead the field in NFC with this latest implementation on the Windows Phone platform, in which we have the full support of Orange,” said Ilari Nurmi, head of product marketing for Nokia’s Smart Devices business unit.

MasterCard PayPass technology provides consumers with an alternative to cash at the point of sale for their everyday purchases.

Devices certified by MasterCard, such as the Lumia 610 NFC, go through a rigorous testing process by a MasterCard accredited laboratory to ensure they will work seamlessly with the PayPass network.

The Lumia 610 NFC is expected to be available early in the third quarter of 2012.