MasterCard has announced that it has added NFC phones from seven device makers and designers to the list of handsets certified for use with its PayPass technology.

The new devices are:

• The HTC One X
• The Intel Smartphone Reference Design
• The LG Viper 4G LTE and LG Optimus Elite
• The Nokia 603
• The Samsung Wave Y, Samsung Galaxy Mini 2, Samsung Galaxy S Advance and Samsung Galaxy Nexus (GT-i9250)
• The Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia P and Sony Xperia Sola
• The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and the BlackBerry Curve 9380

Two BlackBerry NFC phones, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Curve 9360, were certified by MasterCard in October 2011 and the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC was approved at launch in April.

Several of the new phones have already also been certified by Visa for its PayWave contactless payments solution. Visa’s approved phone list includes the Samsung Galaxy S II, LG Optimus Net NFC, the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC, the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9790, Curve 9380 and Curve 9360 as well as the Intel smartphone reference design.

MasterCard also unveiled a new “brand identifier” — “MasterCard PayPass Ready” — that device manufacturers can use with NFC-enabled smartphones that have been tested and certified by MasterCard for use with PayPass technology.

“The MasterCard PayPass Ready identifier will signify a device is available for commercial deployment of PayPass, and can be included as a sticker on the approved device, and in an approved device’s packaging, marketing collateral and advertisements,” the payments network explains.

Both Nokia and RIM have already committed to supporting the new brand mark.

“Nokia is honored that the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC will be one the world’s first smartphones to include MasterCard’s PayPass Ready brand mark,” says Andrea Bacioccola, NFC lead program manager at Nokia. “This sends a clear message to operators, banks and other service providers that Nokia is able to quickly enable their payment services on this smartphone.”

“We are pleased to support the MasterCard PayPass Ready brand mark as it provides consumers with a visual confirmation that an NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone can easily be enabled with a MasterCard account for tap-and-go payments,” adds Andrew Bocking, SVP of software product management at RIM.

“In the near future, millions of phones will ship with NFC technology embedded within them,” says MasterCard mobile boss Mung-Ki Woo. “The new PayPass Ready identifier will help consumers make informed device purchasing decisions by providing a visual mark that indicates devices are certified to make simple, smart and secure payments via the MasterCard PayPass network.”

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