Submitted by: kirkland on Friday December 15th, 2006 at 10:25 AM EST

Some Cingular Wireless cardholders in New York City will be testing a new service that allows them to make purchases with their cell phones.

The mobile operator said Thursday that it's teaming with cell phone maker Nokia and financial institutions Citigroup and MasterCard Worldwide to trial new phones that have MasterCard PayPass contactless payment capability.

The trial, which is expected to last three to six months, will help the companies evaluate the speed and convenience of the "tap and go" payments using mobile phones.

MasterCard PayPass service is already being tested in New York City subway stations using plastic cards issued by Citibank. The cards can also be used at 1,000 Coca-Cola vending machines in Philadelphia. Other merchants such as McDonald's and AMC movie theaters also accept the card, and in turn will accept the PayPass phones.

» Full story @ CNet