We've been saying for a while that paying from the wrist should come as standard on all smartwatches. Barclays is helping to make this a reality after signing up seven more watch brands to use its bPay chip to unlock contactless payments.
Guess, Timex, Mondaine, Suunto, Kronaby, Adexe and LBS are the latest watchmakers all set to embed the payment chip into its wearables, bringing payment smarts to traditional watches and even fitness trackers.
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Timex is set to launch eight new watches in May that will include the bPay tech, while Guess is apparently working on six new watches that will get some bPay love too. Watch strap specialists LBS is working on a smart strap that can be fitted to any watch to add payment support.
Barclays has spent the last four to five years getting its payment tech into a whole host of wearables from jackets to Topshop jewelry. It also introduced the bPay Loop, a silicone add-on, which was designed to slip onto a smartwatches and sports watches to enable contactless purchases.
More recently, it unveiled a smaller, bendier chip, which found its way into bracelets being sold in UK high street shops including Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins. The new flexible form opened the door for the technology to be added into a greater range of wearables.
With the Baselworld 2018 watch fair on the horizon, we anticipate learning a bit more about some of these new payment-packing watches from the likes of Guess Watches, Mondaine and Timex.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.