News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: M-Pesa revenues soar • Google Offers trial gets underway • Tyfone expands team • NXP’s partner programme • SVB picks EMV • British consumers ‘not comfortable’ with location-based services • SCM launches plug-in NFC reader • Elephant Talk to unveil NFC mobile wallet platform • and more… More
GSMA
Spanish city to lend NFC phones to tourists
Tourist information centres in the Spanish city of Caceres are to distribute Google Nexus S NFC phones to visitors, to allow them to access museums, receive promotional coupons and obtain information about the city’s sights. More
Report shows challenge of bringing mobile money to the masses
Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU), a programme supported by the GSM Association and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has produced a document outlining why the number of users of mobile money services in the developing world has yet to match the rise in the range of services available... More
IATA and GSMA identify how NFC could take off at airports
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has teamed up with the GSM Association (GSMA) to identify six core areas of air travel in which passengers, airports and airlines can benefit from the introduction of near field communication technology... More
Survey finds lack of industry coordination delaying NFC uptake
Adoption of mobile payments using near field communication technology is still at least two years away thanks to poor coordination between industry players, according to a survey from Sybase 365... More
GSMA video shows NFC in action in Nice
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... More
World’s leading mobile operators commit to NFC — with the SIM as the secure element and the operators in control
The GSMA has issued a statement outlining a commitment by leading global mobile network operators — many of whom have not previously been involved in NFC — to launch commercial services in 2012. “The operator community is focused on driving the standardised deployment of mobile NFC, using the SIM as the secure element to provide authentication, security and portability,” says the announcement. More
NTT Docomo partners with Korea’s KT to switch to NFC at end of 2012
Mobile network operator NTT Docomo, the driving force behind Japan’s Osaifu-Keitai mobile wallet service, has confirmed that it will make the move to NFC standard technology from “around the end of 2012”, in partnership with Korea’s KT. More
HTC smartphones to support NFC
HTC chief executive Peter Chou has revealed that the world’s fourth largest handset manufacturer has plans to add support for NFC functionality in its mobile phones... More
NFC news in brief • 29 Nov 2010
News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: PingPing adds Coca-Cola • Indian banks offer mobile payments • GSMA investigates embedded SIMs • VeriFone buys Hypercom • Brands test Google Goggles • 500m to use mobile medical apps by 2015 • CPI hits 100M contactless cards • and more… More
European Payments Council and GSMA publish specifications for Trusted Service Managers
The European Payments Council (EPC) and the GSMA have published a joint paper that defines a minimum set of requirements for a Trusted Service Manger (TSM) acting as the interface between a bank and a mobile operator in a SIM-based NFC service... More
KT to launch commercial NFC service with new Samsung handset, Android NFC devices to follow
KT, Korea’s second largest mobile network operator, is to launch a commercial NFC service at the end of October using a new NFC phone made by Samsung. The SHW-A170K feature phone is to be followed with a range of Android NFC phones and KT predicts that, by 2015, NFC phones will account for 47% of sales. More
Mifare4Mobile Group to develop next generation NFC transport ticketing services
NXP has joined forces with Ericsson, Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Venyon and Vivotech to form an industry group that aims to develop a new generation of NFC-based transport ticketing services. More
Oi Paggo to run NFC field trial in Brazil using Gemalto NFC add-on
Oi Paggo, the SMS-based mobile payments service owned by Brazilian mobile network operator Oi, is to run an NFC field trial using Gemalto’s Upteq N-Flex device later this year... More
KDDI to run multiple NFC tests in Japan
The mobile network operator has partnered with card issuers, airlines, a cinema chain, a car manufacturer and others to run a series of tests of NFC standard technology and aims to introduce NFC services “in the near future”. More
GSMA video shows NFC in action at the Mobile World Congress
The GSM Association has published a video news report on the NFC pilot conducted at the Mobile World Congress in February... More
Visa appoints senior GSMA executive to head its move to mobile
Visa Inc has appointed Bill Gajda as its new head of mobile... More
NFC trial begins at Mobile World Congress
Four hundred Samsung Star NFC handsets are being distributed to selected Mobile World Congress attendees for use at the event, which opens in Barcelona today... More
NFC Forum joins up with GSMA, EMVCo and Smart Card Alliance
The NFC Forum has signed a series of agreements, with the GSM Association (GSMA), EMVCo and the Smart Card Alliance, designed to enable it to work more closely with each of the associations on the development of the NFC market and near field communication-based solutions... More
GSMA, EMVCo and GlobalPlatform to develop cross-industry NFC certification process
The three associations will design a model which will allow certification processes to be put in place to ensure that any NFC payments application will work on any platform. More