Archive for October 2010

The NFC Test Zone announced in December 2009 by leading Russian mobile network operators is now set to go live in November, eMoney News reports, with a ticketing pilot on the Moscow rail-air link operated... More

Mobile marketing, payments and commerce specialist i-Free has become the first Russian firm to join the NFC Forum. Headquartered in St Petersburg, i-Free has offices in Moscow, Mumbai, Sao Paolo, Beijing, Kiev and Almaty and... More

STMicroelectronics' latest financial results include a mention of recent successes the company has experienced with its ST21NFCA NFC controller chip. According to the company's financial statement for the three month and nine month periods to... More

Bell ID and Dutch EMV card personalisation bureau PPC Card Systems have announced they are teaming up to provide hosted NFC application provisioning and management services. "The proposition enables mobile network operators, banks and service... More

Bling Nation has launched FanConnect, a new platform that enables merchants to offer mobile rewards and connect with customers via social networking services at the checkout. By tapping their BlingTag, a contactless sticker attached to... More

A new research report by Sarah Clark, editor of NFC World, sets out the latest thinking on how to develop successful NFC business models and explains the options available to mobile network operators, handset manufacturers, financial institutions, third party service providers — and their potential customers. More

A new standalone NFC device from Toppan Printing is set to go into mass production next year with a target price of under US$25. Shaped like a thick bank card and incorporating a display and input keys, it can store and display prepaid funds, coupons, loyalty membership details, transport and entertainment tickets and advertising. More

News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Caen bids for NFC • Sprint adds mobile wallet • Vivotech's Dubai deal • Microsoft tags retailers • Mobile payments boost banks • Paying cash keeps you slim • NCR buys into mobile barcodes More

China's second largest mobile network operator is preparing to launch commercial NFC services in four cities from next month, according to reports in the Chinese media. Commuters in Beijing will be able to make payments using either an NFC phone or an add-on to their existing phone. More

The European Payments Council (EPC) and the GSMA have published a joint paper that defines a minimum set of requirements for a Trusted Service Manger (TSM) acting as the interface between a bank and a... More

HID Global has introduced a new embedded reader platform which is designed to make it easy for solutions providers to develop services that combine both closed and open loop payment schemes as well as leading... More

Datacard has acquired Dynamic Card Solutions (DCS), providers of the CardWizard Perso-to-Go instant in-branch card personalization and issuing solution used by 500 banks, predominantly in the US. Perso-to-Go includes the ability to provision a payments... More

Hong Kong-based Advanced Card Systems (ACS) has launched a new NFC reader which incorporates a fingerprint sensor, enabling biometric identification and verification to be added to PC-based contactless and near field communication applications. The AET62... More

The Taiwanese mobile network operator is to field test an innovative NFC device that supports both card emulation mode for payments, ticketing and customer loyalty applications and tag reading for mobile marketing applications and communicates with the user's phone via Bluetooth. More

News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Mass transit aims for contactless standard • O2's location-based ads • Mobile barcode usage up 700% • RF-SIM supplier set for IPO • Proximity advertising to net $6bn in 2015 • UK leads US in coupon interest • and more... More

A new consortium formed by IT services provider Extelia, NFC specialist Inside Contactless and French regional social services provider Abrapa has won funding from the French government to develop a trusted third party platform designed... More

The new service, to be launched by the end of 2010, will use technology developed by DigiMo to enable Israeli consumers to make payments at the point-of-sale with their mobile phone using their choice of an NFC phone, a sticker attached to their existing phone or a 2D barcode.  More

NFC specialist Proxama has partnered with white label prepaid card issuer Tuxedo Money Solutions to introduce an NFC-enabled version of prepaid MasterCard PayPass contactless cards. The new solution runs on Tuxedo's Eccount platform and allows... More

Bank of America's trial of DeviceFidelity's microSD format NFC solution in New York will focus on the customer experience, the bank's Michael Upton has told Bank Info Security in an in-depth interview. "We have seen,... More

Visa's head of mobile, Bill Gajda, recruited from the GSM Association earlier this year, is spending much of his time convincing Silicon Valley companies they should partner with the payments processing giant rather than try... More