Samsung Pay will become the mobile payments market leader in Asia, with a 49% share of the market in 2016, a Korean investment firm predicts... More
- 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!
Alipay parent seeks $1.5bn investment
Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, owner of mobile payment platform Alipay, is seeking an investment of at least 10bn yuan (US$1.5bn) ahead of a planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reports... More
Azerbaijan to get universal mobile payment system
A new mobile payments system is to begin undergoing tests in Azerbaijan this month, according to Azernews... More
Wi-Fi Alliance polishes HaLow for IoT connectivity
The Wi-Fi Alliance is extending its support for the internet of things (IoT) market with a new brand name for products incorporating low power, long range IEEE 802.11ah technology... More
Facebook bots to enable Messenger commerce
Facebook has given some developers access to an as yet unannounced Chat SDK that allows them to build interactive experiences and “bots” in Messenger for shopping, booking travel and more, according to TechCrunch... More
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Broadcom NFC controller offers faster HCE transactions
Broadcom has unveiled an NFC controller with a new capability called Virtual Execution Environment (VEE) that “reduces HCE transactions to half their time, improves security without the need for a secure element and can perform transactions with the host off so users can still make a transaction when their device is powered off.” The new BCM20797 controller also features a smaller footprint, making it suitable for both mobile devices and wearables, Broadcom says... More
Orange to launch its own bank
Mobile network operator Orange has entered into negotiations to acquire a 65% stake in France’s Groupama Banque with a view to launching a 100% mobile bank... More
E.Sun Bank introduces HCE mobile payments in Taiwan
Customers of Taiwan’s E.Sun Bank can now use the bank’s mobile wallet app to make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments at contactless terminals. The bank is launching the service in collaboration with Visa. More
MasterCard and Coin take NFC payments to wearable devices
Connected device maker Coin has partnered with MasterCard to enable NFC payments on a range of fitness bands, smartwatches and other wearable devices. Fitness wearable designers Atlas Wearables and Moov and smartwatch provider Omate are the first to implement the NFC payments technology into their products. More
Samsung Pay heads to Australia, Brazil and Singapore
Samsung is to launch its Samsung Pay mobile payment service in Australia, Brazil and Singapore, the company’s Tim Baxter has announced during a keynote at the CES show in Las Vegas. The service will also be available on the Samsung Gear S2 classic smartwatch from early this year, starting in the US. More
MasterCard and Samsung enable grocery payments at the fridge
US consumers will soon be able to place grocery orders with online grocer FreshDirect and supermarket chain ShopRite by entering the items they wish to purchase into a touchscreen built into Samsung’s new Family Hub refrigerator. More
Apple Pay adds almost 60 more US banks
Apple has added 58 banks and credit unions to its list of Apple Pay supporting financial institutions in the US... More
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Mike Tyson puts weight behind Bitcoin
Boxing hero Mike Tyson has teamed up with Bitcoin Direct and BitPay to launch the Mike Tyson Digital Wallet... More
Apple to allow P2P transfers through iMessage?
A patent filed by Apple suggests that the company may be looking at letting iPhone users send money over iMessage as well as via phone calls, emails and calendar invitations... More
Yapi Kredi launches HCE mobile payments in Turkey
Customers of Turkish bank Yapi Kredi can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments using a Yapi Kredi Wallet that enables purchases to be made at any contactless terminal with a tap of an Android NFC device. More
Samsung Pay to add online payments
Samsung is to expand Samsung Pay to both online payments and down-range smartphones in the US this year, according to Reuters... More
NXP unveils NFC frontend for contactless payment readers
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has launched a new NFC frontend for contactless payment readers that simplifies the work needed to gain certification and delivers four times more output power than its previous model. More
UK contactless spending volumes rise sharply following increase in transaction limit
Contactless transaction volumes have risen sharply since the UK transaction limit increased from £20 (US$30) to £30 (US$46) in September 2015, research from Barclaycard reveals. Service stations, pubs and bars, supermarkets and fast food outlets have seen the biggest increases. More
One in ten UK card payments now contactless
Contactless card transactions now account for one in ten card payments made in the UK, research from The UK Cards Association shows... More
NFC packaging to safeguard medicines
Patients will soon be able to identify whether pharmaceutical products are in a factory sealed or opened state and access contextual content with the tap of an NFC phone using a solution developed by Thinfilm and Jones Packaging. The technology will also enable pharmaceutical companies to authenticate products and track individual items. More