Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that its the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphones are the first SIM-based NFC smartphones to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide as PayPass-approved devices.

It said that the certification was granted on the basis of the BlackBerry smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability and security requirements of MasterCard.  With this certification, any MasterCard PayPass-issuing bank globally will be able to deploy MasterCard PayPass-enabled accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones.  

France Telecom – Orange is the first operator worldwide to have commercial NFC launches in two countries, UK and France, with trials in several European markets. 

“These new smartphones will help accelerate the adoption of mobile NFC services secured by an Orange SIM, including mobile payments,” said Vincent Barnaud, Director of Contactless Services at France Telecom – Orange. “We have a strong partnership with RIM, and look forward to working together on more NFC initiatives in the future.”

Andrew Bocking, Vice President, Handheld Software Product Management at RIM said, “ We are working proactively with our carrier partners, banks, retailers and other industry players and we are excited to push the boundaries of how NFC can enable new mobile experiences for BlackBerry smartphone users around the world.”

“We are delighted to extend this leadership role into the mobile payments arena and applaud RIM’s efforts to usher in the next phase of NFC adoption by delivering compliant devices to the market,” said Mung Ki Woo, Group Executive, Mobile at MasterCard Worldwide. “The availability of NFC on popular BlackBerry smartphones is an important milestone for the mobile contactless payments business.”