MasterCard Worldwide with Research in Motion and the Middle Eastern telecom company, Etisalat, have announced a partnership to launch an NFC payment program for the United Arab Emirates. The program is also being supported by Network International and Oberthur Technologies, according to the announcement.

NFC-ready BlackBerry smartphones will be available in the UAE market through Etisalat and will link to PayPass-enabled credit, debit and prepaid MasterCard accounts.

"This is just the beginning of a new era in how we make payments in the UAE,” said Essa Al Haddad, Etisalat group chief marketing Officer in the announcement. “The NFC technology used in this application allows a tremendous shift in how we will start to make payments, something that has been talked of for years will soon be a reality."

MasterCard's Middle Eastern GM, Raghu Malhotra agreed the partnership represents a huge shift for payments in the region.

"This product has the potential to significantly change the way consumers in the UAE make payments," Malhotra said.

For more stories on this topic, please see our Contactless/NFC research center.