Carnival Corporation’s Michael Jungen explains how the world’s largest leisure travel company will use its new NFC and BLE-enabled Ocean Medallions to provide guests with a wide range of personalized, next generation services on board its cruise ships in an in-depth paper which is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre. More
Security system identifies users by finger vibrations — Futurity — “A new low-cost security system called VibWrite could eventually use finger vibrations to verify users… It includes an inexpensive vibration motor and receiver, and can turn any solid surface into an authentication surface… During two trials, VibWrite verified legitimate users with more than 95% accuracy and the false positive rate was less than 3%.”
NSF grant to develop one-handed smartphone authentication — Illinois State University — “The interactions, such as strokes, that users make with their thumbs when working with smartphones can be very unique,” said Lai, who is an assistant professor in the School of Information Technology. “We can use these interactions to identify different users. This is what we call thumb biometrics.”
India’s top payment app has eyes on US market — Wall Street Journal — “India’s largest mobile payment app — backed by the likes of China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp — has its eye on the US, its founder said. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s D.Live Singapore event, Paytm founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said his aim is to expand into developed markets, also including Japan and Europe.”
WhatsApp in-chat payments feature is bad news for digital wallets, payment companies in India — FactorDaily — “Instant messenger WhatsApp is readying an intuitive in-chat payments feature, ahead of a likely December launch in India… This will be the first time that WhatsApp is introducing the payments feature anywhere in the world… The Facebook-owned company has partnered with three banks – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, three of India’s biggest banks, to launch the feature, FactorDaily has also learned.”
NAB, Westpac and CBA team up with new payments app, Beem — The Sydney Morning Herald — “Three of the country’s banking giants are joining forces to allow instant payments between people or to small businesses via a smartphone, with plans to ultimately roll out a cross-industry ‘digital wallet’… The app will be the first service offered by a new digital payments joint venture that has been formed between CBA, NAB and Westpac… ANZ is not part of the joint venture but it has been involved in some of the discussions with rivals, and it may sign up in the future.”
The first first impression of the iPhone X — Wired — “I really liked Apple Pay with iPhone X — having to double-click on the side button and then use Face ID was a clearer way to do transactions.”
What we learned about what our chatbot learned — Capital One — “In March at SXSW 2017, Capital One launched an invite-only pilot of Eno, the first natural language SMS chatbot from a US bank. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Eno has emerged from the pilot and is now available to text with millions of Capital One US credit card and bank customers.”
Trigg launches a bracelet that works like a credit card — Visa Brazil (Translation) — “The bracelet is elastic silicone, waterproof and was designed for an audience that wants a payment method that speeds up the shopping process and can be used during sports activities, while enjoying a swim on the beach, paying for a manicure or even while enjoying a show, without worrying about needing a physical wallet.”
Bancontact rolls out contactless smartphone payments to the general public — Bancontact — “Belgians already make more than one million payments each month using the Bancontact app. And Bancontact has now also activated its app for contactless payments… You can use any ordinary bank card in the Bancontact app to pay contactlessly. Which means you don’t have to register a special contactless card in the app.”
Digital challenger bank Starling is the first to support Fitbit Pay in the UK — City AM — “Customers of digital challenger Starling will be able to pay using their Fitbit smartwatch as it becomes the first bank in the UK to support Fitbit Pay… Starling added support for Apple Pay, which works on both the Apple Watch and iPhones, over the summer and Android Pay in September.”
Sony seeks blockchain patent for user authentication system — Coindesk — “The document outlines how the electronics maker might use two different blockchain platforms in conjunction with each other as part of a multi-factor authentication system (MFA).”
Fragmentation, lack of interest to blame for poor mobile payments adoption in Canada — MobileSyrup — “While almost half of Canadians made a contactless purchase with their debit or credit card, the percentage of mobile payments users for platforms like Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay is in the low single digits — even though awareness is “relatively high,” with roughly half of those polled stating they were aware of one of the big three platforms.”
Westpac reveals ‘PayWear’ wearable payment technology — Westpac — “When speaking with customers, personal style and choice were important. In fact, 70% agreed that they would only wear a wearable device if it suited their own personal style and lifestyle. This is why we will collaborate with iconic Australian designers to create a variety of wearable accessory designs to suit different tastes, preferences and styles.”
Edited transcript of Alphabet earnings conference call — Yahoo Finance — “To help millions of people, we are building products specifically designed for local markets in Asia. In India last month, we launched Tez, a mobile payments and commerce app that already has more than 7.5 million users who have made more than 30m transactions. I’m really excited about the potential this brings for India’s mostly cash-based economy.”
Security concerns and problems at the register continue to depress mobile pay usage and net promoter scores — Auriemma Consulting Group — “Many Pay users run into problems at checkout… Half of those who had problems at a retail location that accepts mobile payments say the issue made them use the service less often overall… In fact, 45% of in-store Pay purchasers quit trying to use mobile payments entirely, and use a physical card instead.”
Passengers want technology to give them more control over their travel experience — IATA — “82% of travelers would like to be able to use a digital passport on their smartphones for as many travel activities as possible, from booking flights to passing through the airport. Biometric identification systems were the technology of choice with 64% favoring biometric identifiers as their preferred travel token.”
Apple says claim that it reduced accuracy of Face ID to meet demand is ‘completely false’ — Techcrunch — “The statement from Apple: Customer excitement for iPhone X and Face ID has been incredible, and we can’t wait for customers to get their hands on it starting Friday, November 3… The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven’t changed. It continues to be one in a million probability of a random person unlocking your iPhone with Face ID.”
Fashion brands looking to include payments capabilities in their wearable devices need solutions that are pre-certified, inexpensive, easy to implement and offer the wearer the ability to quickly and easily add their choice of payment, transit, loyalty and identity cards throughout the lifetime of their watch or fashion accessory, wearables platform provider Fidesmo explains in a new white paper which is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Consumers ‘not checking’ contactless purchases — Retail Systems — “More than three quarters (76%) of Britons have used contactless payments and 40% now make half or more of their card payments using contactless. However, nearly half (48%) are not always checking the amount before they tap to pay. Young people (those aged 18-34) are the least likely to check the amount before paying, with only four in ten (39%) doing so every time they pay. Customers aged 55 or over are more vigilant, with 62% saying they check the amount every time they use contactless.”