IN A REVELATORY study O2 has discovered that people are lazy and like it when things are more convenient.

Six months ago O2 began a trial of Near Field Communications (NFC), embedding an RFID chip into a Nokia 6131 and handing them out to 500 London-based customers.

This O2 Wallet allowed users to use the phone as an Oyster Card (hence the London focus) and as a contactless payment card like the Barclaycard Visa Paywave, as well as a few other applications.

The trial recently wrapped up and the feedback has been tallied, with the experiment proving a resounding success according to O2, with nine out of ten trialists saying they were happy using NFC technology on a mobile phone.

"This trial takes us one step forward to achieving this by demonstrating that people want the convenience and practical benefits offered by services like the O2 Wallet," gushed Claire Maslen, O2 UK's head of NFC.

The Oyster feature was the most popular with just about nine out of ten participants raving on about it. The Paywave option was less popular at just over two-thirds, but this may be because it can only be used in a handful of stores.

It was not all roses for O2, though, and the company admits there is a way to go before we'll all be walking about sans wallet.

The trial's participants said that, in order to succeed, there will need to be a wide range of NFC-enabled phones, more banks and retailers will need to support the technology and that concerns over security will have to be allayed.

Trialists also said a good user interface on the phone to the various functions would make it more appealing, such as being able to check balances or recent transactions.

According to O2, the technology can go beyond just travel and payment, including being used in stores and on smart posters for information and marketing purposes, as well as a range of other applications such as loyalty cards and building access.

"In theory, any card that you carry in your wallet could be on your mobile in the future," explained Maslen.

Following the success of the experiment O2 now wants to set up a task force with other mobile operators, retailers, banks and handset manufacturers to help bring this to the mass market.

So when will this technological revolutionise our lives? Maslen narrowed it down for us saying: "Six months would be highly ambitious… five years and I'll have to look for another job."

Maybe we can also use our NFC mobiles to unlock our flying cars then. µ