The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is to roll out a digital travel pass that will enable passengers to store verified identity documents such as their e-passport and verified Covid-19 test results or inoculation records on their iPhone or Android device... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has expanded its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot to include a contactless ‘hard wallet’ and NFC wearables that enable consumers to make in-store and transit fare payments with their digital yuan... More
Public transport users in Dubai can now use a Huawei NFC smartphone to pay for tickets on metro, tram, waterbus and other transit services operated by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) using a digital version of the Nol transit card... More
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE: Collectible coin grading company Collectors Universe is deploying two million NFC tags to enable collectors and dealers to authenticate rare and valuable coins and banknotes... More
Google Pay users in India can now access personalised information about their spending habits in 2020 using a new feature integrated into the payment service’s app... More
Residents of Los Angeles County in the USA will be able to verify that they have been inoculated against Covid-19 and receive a reminder to have a second dose of the vaccine via a digital record they can store in their Apple Wallet or “competing Google platform”... More
Netherlands-based seed potato supplier HZPC is piloting smart delivery bags that use an integrated NFC chip to enable customers to download information about the potatoes a bag contains with a tap of their smartphone... More
Collectors, retailers and auction houses will soon be able to authenticate bottles of rare vintage whisky by using their smartphone to tap an anti-tamper NFC bottle closure that connects to a digital certification record held on a private blockchain... More
Merchants in India can now use a standard NFC mobile phone to accept contactless RuPay domestic card payments valued at up to 5,000 rupees (US$68)... More
Customers of the Lanour Beauty Lounge in Dubai’s World Trade Centre can now have an NFC chip attached to their fingernail as part of a manicure, enabling them to store personal data and transfer it to NFC-enabled devices with a tap of their chip-bearing ‘smart nail’... More
Visa has published a research paper exploring an offline payment system (OPS) protocol for central bank digital currencies (CBDC) that would enable users to make digital payments to other users even when both sender and recipient are temporarily offline or unable to connect to a bank, payment network or other intermediary... More
Android NFC phone users travelling on the Moscow Metro system in the Russian capital can now pay for their tickets directly from Google Pay by tapping a turnstile equipped with a contactless fare terminal — without having to first unlock their smartphone... More
Passengers using buses and trams on the Fil Bleu public transport network in the French city of Tours can now pay their fares by scanning either an on-board NFC tag with their Android device or a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag with an iOS smartphone... More
The NFC Forum has introduced a product certification program that improves the user experience for NFC device owners by enabling manufacturers of smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices to prove that their products fully conform to a wide range of contactless transport, payments and access control standards... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is to enable participants in the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot to test for the first time the use of digital yuan for making both online purchases and touch-based in-store offline payments... More
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has opened an investigation into whether companies such as Apple are in breach of competition rules if they limit the access payments apps have to a smartphone’s NFC chip and restrict a user’s choice of contactless in-store payment method on that device... More
Apple Pay is due to roll out in Mexico “very soon”, according to the payments service’s Mexican website... More
KNOWLEDGE CENTRE: A new generation of software-only solutions that let merchants accept contactless payments on standard NFC smartphones and tablets will “transform digital payment acceptance and consumers’ checkout experiences in stores,” Dejamobile explains in a new white paper now available to download from the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
Businesses in the US can now issue their employees with virtual corporate cards that can be loaded into a mobile wallet and used to make payments at contactless point-of-sale terminals... More
Researchers at Penn State University in the USA have developed a wearable wireless sensor that can be printed directly onto a person’s skin to take precise biometric measurements and transmit data to an NFC smartphone or similar device... More