NFC news in brief

A new version of content discovery platform StumbleUpon's Android app includes support for Google's NFC peer-to-peer Android Beam technology, allowing users with an Android 4.0 NFC phone to share content they discover with other NFC phone users.

Chile's Minister of Transport and Telecommunications is attending the Mobile World Congress this week to investigate the potential for introducing mobile transportation ticketing within the next few months, Chilean publication Emol reports. Plans call for requirements to be defined by April 2012 so that initial deployments can begin in June or July this year.

Gemalto has announced Advanced Connectivity, an end-to-end solution for delivering and activating M2M, NFC and streaming multimedia content applications over LTE networks.

Gemalto has signed a deal with Sony that will see it adding support for Sony's FeliCa contactless card technology to its new Upteq NFC SIM technology. FeliCa chips are embedded in 346 million cards and 170 million mobile phones, including Japan's Osaifu-Keitai mobile wallet service which is switching to NFC, "Through this agreement, we aim to collaborate closely with Gemalto to develop globally compliant solutions for the growing NFC market," says Sony's Izumi Kawanishi.

Chip maker NXP has announced a new secure element platform which is form factor agnostic and incorporates the company's next-generation SmartMX2 technology. The new platform "brings passport level security, smart card performance and multi-applications capability to the SIM market" for the first time, says NXP.

A new version of task manager app Any.Do, voted best Android app of 2011 by Techcrunch, allows users with an NFC phone running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to share tasks via Android Beam.

Mobile productivity app maker Catch.com will unveil an NFC-enabled version of its Android app, allowing users to collaborate on sketches and concepts by simply touching two NFC smartphones together, at the Mobile World Congress. "We're excited to add sketch functionality, and to see how NFC is transforming the way people interact with each other," says CTO Andreas Schobel.

Sony has begun shipping worldwide its first NFC phone, the Xperia S, which was announced last month. The first phones are available this week from the Sony Style store in Barcelona.

An online NFC store has opened in Australia. NFC Wireless supplies tags, readers and software, and can provide encoding, printing and NFC software development services. The store also offers a range of A$5 unbranded NFC window stickers for functions such as "Follow us on Twitter" and "Check in here". "We will strive to be Australia's NFC provider of choice," says CEO Justine Mittelheuser.

Japanese manufacturer Kuoziro has added an NFC enabled tablet to its Frontier range for the Japanese market. The FT701W has a 7-inch touch screen, 1GHz dual core processor, runs Android 2.3 and is priced at ¥29,800 (US$371).The tablet can also be used as a remote control for televisions, DVD players and other electronics when used in its cradle.

ID systems specialist Morpho is to show off NFC solutions in a virtual airport terminal at the Mobile World Congress. The demonstration, using products from Morpho's SIMply NFC Evolution family, starts with a traveler ordering a train ticket and then checking in using a mobile phone. This will be followed by a secure airport check-in using an NFC device.

Giesecke & Devrient has announced that its new Taurus NFC SIMs are being used by Italian MVNO Nòverca for financial institution Intesa Sanpaolo's NFC pilot in Milan and Turin.

Samsung has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian RFID firm Smartag that will see the two firms working together to bring NFC technology to the Malaysian market. "Together we will work to simplify the Malaysian lifestyle by using the digital wallet for credit, debit, membership and loyalty cards using mobile phones," says Smartag CEO PK Lim.

The upcoming NFC smartphone announced by Panasonic in late 2011 is to be called the Eluga, the company has told attendees at its Panasonic Convention 2012 in Hamburg. The device is billed as a 'global model' handset and is set to spearhead the company's assault on the European smartphone market.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia's CommBank Kaching NFC-enabled mobile payments app has been downloaded 110,761 times in the two months since it was first made available, the bank reports. "The first release of CommBank Kaching is just the beginning of the journey and we are constantly reviewing how to evolve our technology to deliver the best customer experience," says the bank, which last week revealed it had picked Giesecke & Devrient as its TSM.

Chinese manufacturer ZTE has announced an NFC smartphone which it will show at MWC 2012. The ZTE PF200 has a 4.3-inch capacitive touch display, 1.2GHz processor, LTE and runs Android 4.0. The device is ZTE's first own-branded NFC smartphone, though the company also produces the Turkcell-branded T11.

Mobile financial services association Mobey Forum has published Control Points In Mobile Wallets (PDF), the second in a series of white papers exploring issues around the deployment of mobile wallet solutions. "If the mobile wallet is to develop to its full potential, it is important to understand how the mobile wallet landscape can be influenced and in particular how stakeholders can control one or more parts of the ecosystem," says the association.

The Thales OR 500 is a new reader designed for the transportation ticketing market that works with both traditional contactless transit cards and EMV bank cards. "The 500 series can be integrated in greenfield projects or as an upgrade in any regional or nationwide fare collection systems," says the company. The first validator equipped with the OR 500 will be available by the end of 2012.

The third event in digital agency Isobar's NFC hackathon series is to take place in London over the weekend of 24-25 March. Create London is sponsored by mobile network operator O2, is free to attend and offers participants the chance of winning a development fund kick-starter to help take their idea to market.

Orange Business Services has produced an infographic that shows consumers six ways NFC will change our world. "If you think NFC is limited to making small, cashless payments, think again," says the telecomms company.