BarclayCard Kills Orange NFC Pilot

Quick Tap, which was launched in 2011, let U.K. users whose phones were equipped with a near-field communications (NFC) chip make tap-to-pay purchases.

But Orange’s parent, EE, unveiled a similar service in 2013 called Cash on Tap, which EE developed with MasterCard. Cash on Tap is being expanded later this month to let users pay for mass transit tickets using their NFC-equipped phones.

Barclaycard, which introduced its first contactless payment cards in 2007, has since unveiled its PayTag stickers, which can be attached to any mobile phone to give it tap-to-pay capabilities. It also plans to move into wearables in 2015 with the commercial launch of its bPay wristband.

The company also hinted to Finextra that it is not abandoning mobile NFC services, but wouldn’t offer any details.