LAS VEGAS – Visa International unveiled technology this week at the Consumer Electronics Show that will make buying items with cell phones commonplace, the Globe and Mail reports. While the concept has been rolling around since the late 1990s, Visa’s decision to tap into it coincides with the explosion of smart phones.

“Clearly what is happening in the world of handsets is very germane to our business," Patrick Gauthier, a senior vice-president for Visa, told the newspaper. “It was very important that we start to step up.”

Visa wants to turn cell phones into electronic wallets that are swiped in front a merchant’s scanner to complete transactions. The contact-less payment doesn’t require signatures or personal identification numbers, but will limit the buyer to transactions of $25 or less, Gauthier said. Visa is also working on mobile phone payments between individuals, although how to authenticate such deals remains to be seen, he said.

To make monetary transactions, cell phones will have a special chip built into their hardware. Visa has been working with Nokia Corp., along with IBM Corp., VeriSign and NXP Semiconductors on the platform development.

Visa estimates that approximately $140 billion worth of transactions it processes will be from cell phones by 2010, just a fraction of the company’s $4 trillion worth of annual transactions.