IN a world first, the Commonwealth Bank today launched a mobile phone application and case that together allow consumers to pay for anything, anywhere with their iPhone.

The app, called Kaching (say ka-chingg), allows iPhone users to pay using friends', tradespeople's or businesses' email address, mobile phone number or Facebook identification.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) chief information officer Michael Harte said: "This banking breakthrough marks a significant milestone in the evolution of how we pay and receive money from each other."

The iPhone case, to be supplied by CBA to customers, uses near field communication (NFC) or "tap and pay" from the iPhone to the merchant where Mastercard PayPass facilities are available.

In what heralds the end of the plastic card, Kaching uses virtual credit and debit cards to make and receive payments electronically.

Provided the email, mobile phone, Facebook or bank account details are entered into or held by the phone, payments can be made in real time.

CBA executive general manager cards, payments and retail strategy David Lindberg said: "Already, more than half our 10 million customers own a smartphone.

"For the first time, Australian consumers will no longer have to rely on cash or cards to make payments to family, friends or even businesses."

CBA customers from today can download Kaching, a free app from the iTunes store or through a link on the bank's website.

They then complete online registration with their normal online banking log in details. Payments can then be made using email, mobile or Facebook ID.

If the payment is to another CBA customer, the money is transferred instantly to the nominated account. If the person is a customer of another bank, the usual processing time of one to two days applies.

The bank has integrated the payment application with Facebook and said that there are 42,000 readers in Australia and more than 7 million MasterCard PayPass cards in circulation. Facebook's Australian spokesman said that Facebook users have a strong smartphone usage and more than 10 million Australians log on to Facebook each month.

MasterCard said that PayPass transactions have increased by 229 per cent this year with more than 1 million transactions processed in August alone.

The CBA said that it has more than 6.2 million online bank users and is the seventh biggest bank in the world. In August, the bank had more than 16 million logons from a mobile device with some 79 per cent of these from an iPhone.

Originally published as CommBank launches 'pay-by-iPhone' app