Archive for August 2012

Hungary's State Printing House, Állami Nyomda, has announced it has been selected as Telenor Hungary's technical partner for NFC. Telenor Hungary is preparing to test NFC payments and loyalty services and is to participate in... More

Motorola has received FCC approval for the XT907, a 4G NFC phone which is being described as a mini Droid Razr and is expected to be available via Verizon in the US.

Etisalat Misr, Egypt's leading mobile network operator, has installed an NFC access control system at its premises in Cairo. The project is believed to be the first in the Middle East/Africa region to successfully demonstrate the use of NFC for access control applications.

Israel Credit Cards-Cal (ICC-Cal) and mobile network operator Cellcom Israel have signed a letter of intent to jointly develop an NFC mobile payments product, Globes reports. ICC and Cellcom will establish a customers club on... More

Examination of a proxy statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Authentec, linked to Apple's recent bid to acquire the firm for US$356m, has led to renewed speculation that the next iPhone... More

Cardholders will be able to add their Discover cards to Google Wallet using a simple "click-to-add" process, via the card issuer's online account centre, their Google account online or the Google Wallet app on their Android NFC phone. More

Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad Tablet 2 for Windows 8 a 10.1-inch touchscreen device which will come with both NFC and a fingerprint biometrics reader. The tablet PC "will be available when Windows 8 launches in October".

NFC payments are five to ten years away from mainstream adoption and on the crossover between the 'Peak of Inflated Expectations' and the 'Trough of Disillusionment', according to this year's Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. NFC as a whole is expected to hit the mainstream more quickly, but is still two to five years away from maturity. More

Global mobile payment transaction volumes will increase nearly fourfold over the next five years to more than US$1.3 trillion, according to a new forecast by Juniper Research. Growth will be driven primarily by sales of... More

US mobile network operator Sprint has begun taking orders for a new Motorola phone that features NFC, LTE and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard. The Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE has a 4.3-inch display and runs... More

T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom has picked German payments processing specialist Wirecard to support its move into the mobile payments market. The strategic partnership with Wirecard follows the signing of a major mobile payments deal with... More

Nokia is to begin shipping a Windows Phone 8 NFC device, codenamed the Phi, during the last week of October 2012, according to the Nokia Innovation blog. The Nokia Phi is believed to be the successor to the Lumia 800 and will be one of three Nokia WP8 phones launched at that time.

A new tablet from Samsung, referred to as the GT-P8110 and featuring unusual rounded corners as well as NFC functionality, has been submitted for FCC approval, Phandroid reports.

Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven, Best Buy, Publix, Sears, Shell and Sunoco are amongst a dozen major merchants that have formed a new company called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) that will provide an alternative to services like Isis and Google Wallet. More

Australian bank Westpac has begun an NFC payments pilot, using Android handsets equipped with a secure element embedded in the SIM that stores a virtual MasterCard debit card. "Those participating in the pilot will be... More

Tech publication Engadget has spotted that Asus has submitted two tablets running Windows 8 and featuring NFC for FCC approval. The devices are the TF600T (believed to be the previously reported Tablet 600) and the Tablet 810.

Apple has been granted US patent number 8,239,276, entitled 'On-the-go shopping list'. Originally filed in September 2008, the patent references NFC extensively. The abstract describes the system as follows: Systems and methods for providing shopping-related... More

Samsung has two Windows Phone 8 handsets in the works, according to court documents seen by The Verge. At least one, the Odyssey, looks set to include NFC as well as a 4.65-inch Super Amoled display.

Hong Kong-based NFC and smart card reader specialist Advanced Card Systems (ACS) is moving into the contactless point-of-sale terminal market. The company's new ACR123 POS terminal will be EMV, Mifare, MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave... More

A new Android 4.0 NFC phone from Korean manufacturer Pantech, the P9090 Magnus, could hit the US market later this year, Technology and Gadgets reports. The quad band LTE device has just passed through FCC certification and is likely to appear on AT&T's network, adds Engadget.