Cityzi

The new Carte Magique has been introduced by independent retailer trade body OCAN to help its members fight back against online discounters. More

French banking group BNP Paribas is expanding availability of its Kix NFC mobile payment application to Strasbourg. The bank, which worked with Orange on the Cityzi NFC trial in Nice, introduced the Android app in... More

The funding will be used to build out an NFC transport ticketing infrastructure in Paris and other major French cities as national NFC standards are finalised and carriers prepare to rollout NFC payments services across France this year. More

The NFC version of Samsung's flagship smartphone is now shipping in France. The Galaxy S II Cityzi  is available from Orange and can be had for as little as €79 on a two year contract or... More

The latest NFC phone rumours and announcements, including: France to get NFC Galaxy S II, with rest of Europe to follow • iPhone speculation • A trio of NFC BlackBerrys • Casio's DT-X8 rugged terminal • Acer NFC handset could be first of many • Korea gets high-end LG NFC phone • Intel shows off Android tablet design that features NFC More

"Customers will be able to access the most innovative m-banking and m-payment services to manage their accounts and make payments using their mobile phones," say the French banking group and mobile network operator.  More

From this summer, subscribers to the UK's Quick Tap NFC service will be able to use their phones to make payments in Nice, home of the French Cityzi NFC service. More

Mobile network operators' association the GSMA has produced a video showing near field communication phones in action in the French city of Nice, where mobile operators have been conducting an NFC trial under the Cityzi brand name. The... More

"With the availability of new NFC-enabled devices from Samsung, and many more from our other handset partners to come in 2011, we are moving closer to a world in which we believe mobile contactless services will soon become the norm," says Orange's EVP of mobile services. More

France's mobile network operators have formally committed to deploying one million NFC phones in 2011, under the Cityzi brand name. In an official statement published by the AFSCM (Association Française pour le Sans Contact Mobile),... More

Despite plans for a major expansion of the high profile pre-commercial NFC trial in Nice and Orange's ambitions to sell 500,000 NFC phones this year, a survey of French consumer attitudes has found that the majority are not in favour of using a phone to make payments. More

The cities of Paris, Bordeaux, Caen, Lille, Marseille, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse are to join Nice in the next stage of French plans to deploy a national NFC infrastructure. Each of the cities is to... More

Orange will begin introducing NFC services "in the majority of countries in which it has a presence" in 2011, the mobile network operator has told mobile phone manufacturers at a meeting in Paris on 15... More

The aim is to ensure that users of the French Cityzi NFC service can use their mobile phone to make payments anywhere in the world that MasterCard PayPass is accepted, ahead of a planned national expansion of the Cityzi service.  More

A total of thirteen cities have responded to the French government's call for proposals for three to five more cities to receive funding to run large scale NFC field trials similar to the Cityzi project... More

News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Caen bids for NFC • Sprint adds mobile wallet • Vivotech's Dubai deal • Microsoft tags retailers • Mobile payments boost banks • Paying cash keeps you slim • NCR buys into mobile barcodes More

The first 10,000 MyMax stickers, which enable full NFC functionality to be added to any Bluetooth mobile phone, are now in production and field trials are expected to take place before the end of this year. More

Three retailers in Nice are using Fidbook, an NFC loyalty application that works with a simple reader costing under €100 and avoids the need to upgrade to a contactless payments terminal. More

Following the successful launch of the Cityzi NFC service in Nice, a further "three to five" cities are to receive funding from the French government as the country gears up for the introduction of a nationwide commercial NFC service. More

France's mobile network operators and banks, along with Visa and MasterCard, the local transport operator, the city council and others will take part in Europe's first pre-commercial NFC pilot — which will be identified by the new Cityzi brand. More