Apple Pay has launched in Qatar with support for American Express cards and Mastercard and Visa cards issued by seven major banks... More
Apple Pay goes live in Qatar
- Bank of China lets taxi drivers accept central bank digital currency payments on NFC mobile phones
- Juniper forecasts 25% increase in POS terminal transaction values by 2028
- STMicroelectronics launches NFC tag chip with elliptic curve cryptography
- NFC Forum survey finds majority of consumers now prefer making payments with their mobile phone
- Hello, NFCW readers!
Nearly 50% of payments for purchases from vending machines in the US are now contactless
The proportion of contactless payments made for purchases from vending machines in the US increased from 18% of all transactions in January 2021 to 43% in October 2021, has now reached 48% and “could grow by another 12%” by the end of this year, a new study reveals... More
Bank of New Zealand cuts contactless transaction fees with software-only POS solution
Merchants in New Zealand can now accept contactless payments on an ordinary Android NFC smartphone using a low-cost software point of sale (sPOS) solution that users will be able to implement without a monthly fee for using the app until January 2024 if transactions are settled to a Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) account... More
Apple to use UWB and BLE to let iPhone users make hands-free contactless interactions with smart devices
Apple users will be able to switch on smart devices such as e-bikes, speakers and other accessories from an iPhone or Apple Watch running the forthcoming iOS 16 update without needing to unlock their own device or take it out of their bag or pocket via third-party apps that use both ultra wideband (UWB) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology... More
Norway, Finland and New Zealand top list of countries closest to becoming cashless
Norway, Finland and New Zealand are the three countries closest to becoming cashless societies, followed by Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, the UK, Singapore and the Netherlands, according to research published by Merchant Machine... More
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Shell lets motorists make hands-free contactless fuel payments at the pump with RFID
Motorists in Malaysia can now purchase and place an RFID tag in their vehicle that allows them to make hands-free contactless payments for fuel directly from a digital wallet using RFID-enabled fuelling bays at nearly 90 Shell fuel stations across the country without needing to use their mobile phone or payment card... More
US Department of Agriculture to trial NFC and QR mobile payments for contactless state benefits
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is to run a series of pilot schemes to test the use of mobile payments technology to enable citizens entitled to financial support under its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to receive benefits and make NFC or QR code payments for eligible purchases on their mobile device... More
Samsung includes NFC, UWB and MST contactless technologies in foldable phones and wearables
Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Watch 5 Pro all offer NFC functionality, while some also include ultra wideband (UWB) capabilities and the phone maker’s own MST magnetic stripe emulation technology... More
Apple Pay expands to Malaysia
Apple Pay has launched in Malaysia with support for Mastercard and Visa cards issued by AmBank, Maybank and Standard Chartered Bank... More
German football club trials NFC scarves that let fans access the stadium and receive special offers
Fans of German football club 1 FC Köln have trialled a team scarf incorporating an NFC chip that can be used instead of a conventional ticket to gain access to the stadium and also enables users to access exclusive real-time digital content during a match... More
Hong Kong Fire Services Department to launch contactless triage cards to improve emergency response management
Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department is to introduce contactless triage or casualty classification cards containing an NFC chip and a QR code that enable rescue workers to communicate accurate real-time information about the injuries of individuals involved in large-scale accidents to other frontline staff, public hospitals and dispatch centres... More
Colombia to let citizens use digital ID for contactless cross-border travel in South America
Residents of Colombia will soon be able to use an updated version of their digital national identity card — known as La Cédula Digital Colombiana — stored on their Apple or Android smartphone as a passport when travelling to eight other South American countries... More
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Nike and Rtfkt use NFC to link physical clothing with NFTs
Nike and its digital fashion brand Rtfkt have launched a hoodie incorporating an NFC chip that enables purchasers to connect it to a digital version of the garment in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) that can be ‘worn’ by digital avatars in Rtfkt’s Clone X avatar ecosystem... More
More than 34m merchants worldwide to accept contactless payments on NFC smartphones by 2027
The number of merchants worldwide using software point of sale (sPOS) solutions to accept contactless payments on an ordinary NFC smartphone or tablet will increase from 6m in 2022 to more than 34.5m by 2027, according to Juniper Research... More
France lets citizens add a digital version of their health insurance card to their smartphone
Residents across France will soon be able to download and store a digital version of their Carte Vitale health insurance card on their Apple or Android smartphone using the ApCV app currently being piloted in 10 French departments... More
Finland to pilot digital passports for contactless cross-border travel
Residents of Finland could be the first in the European Union to test the use of a digital passport stored on their mobile phone to verify their identity when they travel abroad, according to media reports... More
Huawei Pay goes live in Italy
Customers of Intesa Sanpaolo bank in Italy with a compatible smartphone can now digitise and add their PagoBancomat payment card to a Huawei Pay digital wallet and use it to make in-store NFC mobile payments... More
Varla upgrades e-scooter security with NFC anti-theft system
E-scooter manufacturer Varla has upgraded the NFC-enabled anti-theft system on its Eagle One Pro vehicle to enable owners to lock and unlock it using a digital version of their contactless key card stored on their NFC smartphone... More
Helsinki Regional Transport to roll out validators that support both contactless and QR fare payments
Helsinki Regional Transport (HSL) is to introduce validators across the Finnish capital’s bus, tram, train, metro and ferry networks that will enable passengers to pay their fares using their physical or digital contactless debit, credit or transit card or via a QR code... More
More than 160,000 stores worldwide will support contactless mobile self-scan shopping by 2027
The number of stores worldwide that enable customers to self-scan their purchases on their own smartphone or a device provided by the merchant rose by 10,000 during 2021 to reach a total of 46,000, but that total is set to more than triple and exceed 161,000 globally by 2027, according to Retail Banking Research (RBR)... More