Up to now if you were a PayPal user then you have had to pay for your goods through the traditional route of logging into your PayPal account. However PayPal is beginning to make use of near field communication technology by offering a new service. This will allow you to transfer money between your own and others’ accounts by means of your mobile phone. You will need to download an app, and own an appropriate handset. PayPal tested the new service with Google’s latest handset – the Nexus S – and it appears to have worked satisfactorily.

Using the new service is also fairly straightforward. After downloading the app, you enter the amount of money you want transferred, enter a PIN then tap the individual you want the money to be paid to. You will know the technology has done its job because the phone vibrates. While this may annoy some, it’s a snazzy way of letting you know that the transfer has taken place.

Speaking with mobilechoiceuk.com a spokesperson from PayPal said: “[The company has] been looking at NFC technology for a while and we saw a tremendous opportunity to combine the best of NFC and the best of PayPal.” Although the initial tests were carried out using a Nexus S handset, experts believe that any Android smartphone using version 2.3 and better will be able to use this technology.  As for the application itself, it is not available to download at the moment, but it should be available later this summer.