Weve, the payments and advertising business backed by the main UK mobile operators, today insisted its forthcoming payments platform can be a success despite the fact that it doesn’t work on Apple devices. It added the iPhone-maker would be proved wrong.
Weve uses near-field communications technology (NFC) which allows users to make a contactless payment with a chip inside the phone. But unlike most other new handsets, the iPhone does not have NFC. “We’d love them to be more involved in NFC,” said Weve chief executive David Sear. “If I’m right they’ll be on the wrong side of the debate.”
Vodafone, O2 and EE co-own Weve, which launched a year ago after the European Commission gave the green light, despite protests from rival operator Three.
Weve is pooling information from 20 million subscribers who have “opted in” across the three networks to help sell targeted advertising anonymously. The payments system will launch next year as a rival to Silicon Valley operators such as Google and Facebook. Culture minister Ed Vaizey opened Weve’s West End offices yesterday.
