New Zealanders will soon be able to use their Android smartphones to make contactless payments with Semble, the new mobile wallet brand that is replacing traditional plastic cards.

NZ owned Semble, previously known as TSM NZ, is working with shareholders 2degrees, Spark New Zealand, Vodafone, Paymark, and banking partners ASB and BNZ.

The mobile wallet will initially have ASB and BNZ credit and debit cards available, along with a number of Air New Zealand Airpoints earning GlobalPlus cards.

Semble enabled phones will eventually accommodate additional bank cards, loyalty cards, public transport and other cards.

A live market pilot trial will be conducted with 250 people in November. Available on a range of Android smartphones with near field communication (NFC), Semble will be available to download from Google Play in early 2015.

A marketing partnership with Samsung is supporting Semble’s initial launch and rollout.

Rob Ellis, Semble CEO, said that with New Zealanders increasingly relying on smartphones to manage their lives, it only makes sense to move a wallet’s physical contents to the smartphone.

“We’re moving into an exciting new era where the days of physical wallets bursting at the seams will be a thing of the past. Soon smartphone users will be able to purchase goods and services via their smartphones and know instantly whether they’re due that free coffee or voucher without rifling through their collection of loyalty cards amassed over the years,” he said.

The company said that while Semble is initially available only on Android phones with NFC, the release of the iPhone 6, the first Apple device to have NFC capability included, is exciting and represents further endorsement of NFC as a contactless technology.