Archive for November 2012

NFC technology is being tested on 211 covered tram stops in Helsinki, Finland. The pilot involves placing two tags at each tram stop. The first allows passengers to easily purchase tram tickets from their mobile... More

US phone resale valuation specialist Movaluate is offering to mail buyers and sellers of used mobile phones a free tag, containing an NFC chip and carrying a printed QR code, that can be used to... More

NFC tag platform provider Tagonic is running a competition offering UK-based developers a prize of up to 1,000 free NFC tags for the best idea submitted for an NFC tag application. "We are looking for... More

In the November edition of Mobile Wallet Outlook, the monthly trends bulletin for subscribers to The Mobile Wallet Report, the NFC World team examines the role US merchants plan to play in mobile payments and how the move to mobile is creating new opportunities for alternative players to define the bank account of the future. More

1,553 restaurants in 133 towns across France, voted by users of restaurant reviews site Cityvox as their favourites throughout the country, are being provided with interactive window stickers that let diners access Cityvox customer reviews... More

Indian video games retailer Game4u has installed smart posters in its stores that let NFC phone users tap their handset to "like" the retailer on Facebook. Game4u's NFC platform is provided by Mumbai-based JusTap!

Cardholders can use V.me at 23 merchants today to make payments online by entering just a username and password. In-store payment capabilities are expected to be added in 2013. More

Transportation and smart card technology specialist Ecebs has been acquired by Bell ID. Ecebs' portfolio includes a number of front-end technologies that Bell ID expects to be able to use to "significantly enhance its offering to the growing market for smart ticketing/payment using mobile devices".

Inside Secure's Mobile MasterCard PayPass M/Chip 4 payment applet has received MasterCard's Cast and Functional certification when credentials are stored on the chip specialist's SecuRead embedded NFC module or VaultSecure secure element. Functional certification confirms... More

Car maker Audi has signed a strategic partnership deal with NXP that will see the two companies working on eight areas of automotive innovation, including NFC, Car-to-X communications, telematics and high-voltage controls for electric vehicles.

Biometric authentication specialist Fingerprint Cards (FPC) has announced it has integrated its fingerprint verification algorithm and swipe sensor technology into Infineon's embedded secure element chip. "FPC's solution is uniquely positioned to work in a secure... More

A public authority consortium led by Docapost BPO, a division of France's postal service La Poste, is to equip caregivers with NFC phones for use when making home care visits. The Confiance e-health project aims... More

Atos Worldline has launched Yoximo, a portable POS terminal with a contactless reader integrated into its colour screen. The terminal complies with the PCI 3 and SRED standards, and features a revolving PIN privacy shield.

Japanese payment brand JCB has begun a one month trial of a new JCB Mobile Wallet platform in Tokyo's Omotesando shopping district and says it will launch the product commercially in 2013. The JCB Mobile Wallet handles payments, points programs, discounts and other special offers and is based on a platform developed by Dai Nippon Printing.

Ten device manufacturers are now using Infineon's Digital Contactless Bridge (DCLB) interface to enable a fast and secure connection between an embedded secure element and an NFC modem, the chip maker reports. Licensees include Texas Instruments, Inside Secure, MicroPross, MtekVision, Crocus Technology and Keolabs.

The developers behind Project Ingeborg, which can provide visitors to a town or city with the ability to download books, works of art and other information relevant to particular locations via NFC tags and QR codes, have made the system available as a plugin for the popular WordPress content management platform. The Pingeb.org plugin is based on a service tested earlier this year in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt.

Developer Andreas Jakl has introduced NFC Interactor, an NFC tag reading and writing application for Windows Phone 8 handsets. The app is also available for Symbian and MeeGo devices.

"The availability of the NCI specification is significant because it makes it easier for device manufacturers to integrate chipsets from different chip manufacturers, and it defines a common level of functionality and interoperability among the components within an NFC-enabled device," says the NFC Forum. More

RBS Group, which owns the UK's Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest banks, has picked Giesecke and Devrient as the TSM for its TouchPay NFC payments project. G&D is also managing data generation and fulfilment of the iCarte devices used to add NFC functionality to customers' iPhone 4 and 4S handsets.

The new NFC solution is designed to offer the same user experience — and the same level of security — whether a shopper is presenting a merchant with a physical card or making a remote ecommerce or mcommerce transaction. More