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Students may be able to store all their essentials, including their travel cards, on their mobile phones, after a trial started for the new O2 Wallet.
If the London-based trial is successful, the system could become widely available, giving students who carry mobile phones but no cash the chance to make purchases using their phones.
Cath Keers, customer director of O2 UK, said: "Research shows that people are more likely to return home if they leave their phone behind than their wallet or keys. So why not have your wallet on your phone? We believe that NFC technology is going to fundamentally change the way people use their mobile phones."
The trial involves 500 people across London using the Near Field Communications technology to pay for purchases, access events and to travel around London by using their phone as an Oyster card.
Users will still be able to use their phone normally: an incoming call during a transaction will not disrupt the Wallet application.
The application is a joint venture from O2 and Nokia and so far only works with one credit card, Barclaycard.
Meanwhile, research by Gartner says that mobile phone sales in the third quarter of this year reached 289 million globally.
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