Orange will launch the NFC-enabled Samsung Wave 578 in the UK, France, Spain and Poland from the second quarter as the first of a series of NFC phones from various manufacturers including LG and Nokia. Orange expects that by the end of the year, over half of all new smartphone models added to its range in Europe will by NFC-enabled. The inclusion of Sim-secured contactless capabilities will lay the foundations for Orange to enable a tranche of new services from partners in the future, ranging from mobile payment to ticketing and transportation. The Samsung Wave 578, to be subsequently rolled out to other Orange markets in Europe, runs on the bada 1.1 operating system and offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity. It will feature Orange Signature services such as Orange TV Player, Orange Maps and Orange Messenger. Samsung already provided Orange with the Player One Cityzi handset, used to kick off the Cityzi service in Nice.
