Everything Everywhere, which is the joint venture of Orange and T-Mobile, will launch the first commercial contactless mobile payment system in the UK.

The technology being used is NFC ( Near Field Communication ) which is a wireless connection which enables data transfer between devices over about  10 centimeters. To make a transaction you just wave your phone by the card reader.

The new service will be setup by Barclaycard and Everything Everywhere and will launch in the summer this year. This wil change the way payments are made on the High Street and there are over 40,000 stores ready to participate. Mastercard will manage the payment and approval process.

Barclaycard say that contactless mobile payments provides excellent purchase protection for consumers backed by an Industry secure SIM-based payments approach.  There will be a jointly branded contactless credit card and an Orange Cash pre-paid contactless card.

Gerry McQuade, Chief Development Officer, Everything Everywhere, said: "This is the beginning of a revolution in how we pay for things on the high street. It's a cultural shift that is as important as the launch of the personal credit card or ATMs.

The technolgy for this to work will be included on your SIM card. Some mobile phone manufacturers have already included NFC technology wthin the phone as opposed to the SIM card. One such example is the Google Nexus S.