Famous Sad Love Quotes: New Blackberry Bold smartphones to turn into 'mobile wallets' and replace cash and cards

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New technology allows credit card details to be loaded onto a Blackberry
Payments of up to £15 are made by waving device against a reader in-store

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 5:33 PM on 3rd August 2011

Smartphones that turn into a mobile wallet are among several new BlackBerry devices unveiled by manufacturer Research In Motion today.

As well as all the usual smartphone functions like internet browsing, Blackberry users will be able to make 'contactless' payments in shops across Britain, including Pret A Manger, McDonalds and Boots.

The new technology allows card details to be loaded onto a Blackberry Bold 9900 or 9930 and then make payments of up to £15 by waving it against a reader in-store. BlackBerry Torch 9810, which does not contain the technology, was also unveiled.

Pay as you go: The new technology allows credit card details to be loaded onto a Blackberry Bold 9900 (pictured) or 9930 and then make payments of up to £15 by waving it against a reader in-store

BLACKBERRY TORCH 9850

The BlackBerry Torch 9850 is the only new smartphone unveiled that features a new design for RIM.

The Torch 9850 - launched in the U.S. as the 9860 - is a touchscreen device with a 3.7inch, 480x800 pixel screen.

The 253dpi display is the largest on a BlackBerry device to date.

It also has 720p video camera and is powered by a 1.2GHz processor and 768MB of RAM.

Primed with 4GB of internal memory, the Torch 9850's memory will be expandable by up to 32GB via a microSD card.

The handset has wifi and BlackBerry OS 7.

The move by Blackberry, one of the biggest smartphone brands in the world, marks another step along the way to a 'cash-less' society.

One in eight of us now doesn't carry cash at all, preferring cards for purchases - a potential goldmine for banks because they charge shops a fee for transactions.

It is thought that Apple's iPhone 5, which may be ready for launch as soon as December, will also include the tap-and-pay technology.

In May, Orange and Barclaycard teamed up to offer 'Quick Tap' mobile technology. Quick Tap is currently available only on one model of phone - the Samsung Tocco, costing an extra £59 on a pay-as-you-go contract.

In addition, internet giant Google has announced that it plans to launch 'Google Wallet', which may take the form of an all-encompassing smartphone app for banking.

Experts warned in the Huffington Post, though, that this may allow Google to collect information about users' locations, shopping habits, and spending patterns with the intention of using this to sell ads, coupons, and loyal reward programs.

RIM executives hope that today's launch of five devices will buy time until the firm can introduce a radically new software packinging in its smartphones. Three will go onsale in Britain.

These three new touchscreen phones run on the new BlackBerry OS 7, and each boast an improved screen display and pack a 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, the most powerful ever for a BlackBerry phone.

All three devices will launch with carriers globally by the end of August, RIM said.

The browser for the new phones is 40 per cent faster than the original Torch, RIM's last major phone launch which hit shelves almost a year ago.

But since co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis has already promised 'superphones' next year using the QNX-based operating system running RIM's PlayBook tablet computer, analysts are looking beyond the launch.

'This is a necessary product refresh in advance of the big bang that we hope and expect will happen with QNX-based phones,' said CCS Insight spokesman John Jackson.

The three new BlackBerry touchscreen phones being released in Britain. Each runs on the new BlackBerry OS 7 and boasts an improved screen display

RIM shipped 13.2million phones in the three months to late May, its first fall in shipments versus the prior quarter since at least mid-2007, as it pushed this launch back to August.

RIM's newly-promoted global head of sales Patrick Spence said BlackBerry heritage was as a leading communications tool and 'what we're talking about now with BlackBerry 7 is really enhancing that experience'.

One of the Torch versions is to the eye identical to the original touchscreen device with a slideout Qwerty keyboard, the other is RIM's first touch-only device since the disappointment of its Storm model.

The Bold upgrade will feature a near-field communications chip that can turn the phone into a mobile wallet. It was first shown at RIM's BlackBerry World conference in May.

RIM's North American market share has dipped sharply in the past year as high-end Android devices proliferate and Apple's iPhone was added to Verizon's lineup.

Globally the fall has been less severe but from a smaller starting point, according to data compiled by research firms CCS Insight and Gartner.