Two thirds of Australians are now aware they own a contactless payment card and 53% have made a contactless transaction, research released by RFi Group has revealed, taking the country to the top of a leaderboard for both contactless awareness and usage rates... More
USA
US in-store mobile payments to hit $54bn by 2019
Mobile proximity payments — those made by consumers at the physical point of sale using a mobile device — in the US will total US$54bn by 2019, Javelin Strategy and Research has projected... More
Apple Pay signs up first casino resort
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has become the first casino resort to announce support for Apple Pay... More
LevelUp adds direct carrier billing
LevelUp has added a direct carrier billing option from Danal to its NFC and QR code-based in-store mobile payments system... More
First Internet offers Touch ID login
Customers using US-based First Internet Bank’s personal mobile banking application are now able to log in using their fingerprint and Apple’s Touch ID feature... More
Starbucks opens express store with mobile POS ordering
Visitors to Starbucks’ newly opened express store on Wall Street in New York are being met by one of the coffee chain’s employees upon entry, who then takes their order using a handheld device... More
Home Depot to accept Apple Pay in 2,000 stores
US retail giant Home Depot is planning to offer Apple Pay at its more than 2,000 stores, a rollout that would make it the largest retailer yet to accept the mobile payments service — though a deal with Apple is not yet in place... More
Tattoos confound Apple Watch wrist detection, making Apple Pay “unusable”
Apple Watch owners with tattooed wrists have been reporting that their smartwatches are not functioning properly as the LED-based heart monitor built into the devices experiences difficulty detecting that the watch is being worn — an issue which impacts the use of Apple Pay among other features such as receiving notifications, placing phone calls and using some applications. More
Chip and PIN faces slow take-up in US, says Forrester
EMV payments on plastic cards won’t achieve broad adoption in the US until 2020, Forrester Research predicts, due to the rise of “more secure” mobile and contactless payment alternatives... More
MCX appoints interim CEO after Best Buy announces support for Apple Pay
MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson has left the retailer-led consortium to “pursue other opportunities” in the same week it was announced that founder member Best Buy will roll out support for rival mobile payments service Apple Pay later this year... More
MCX confirms it will launch CurrentC this summer in a “mid-sized market”
Retailer owned mobile payments consortium MCX has confirmed to NFC World that it will launch its CurrentC mobile wallet in an unspecified mid-sized US market soon, following the announcement that founder member Best Buy will begin to accept rival mobile payments service Apple Pay in its stores later this year... More
Starwood guests unlock hotel rooms with Apple Watch app
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has launched an app for the Apple Watch that enables wearers to tap their device to unlock hotel room doors via Bluetooth... More
MCX member Best Buy to accept Apple Pay across the US
US retail giant Best Buy, a founder member of retailer-led consortium MCX which requires members to exclusively support its own yet-to-launch mobile payments service, has announced that it will accept Apple Pay NFC payments in its stores “later this year”... More
Discover to add support for Apple Pay
Apple Pay will be supported by all major US credit card companies “beginning this fall” after Discover announced plans to join Visa, MasterCard and American Express in letting its cardholders add cards and make NFC payments using the mobile payments service... More
Starbucks processes 8m mobile payments every week
Coffee chain Starbucks has 16 million active users of its mobile app who are making eight million mobile payments a week, equalling nearly 19% of all transactions in US stores, president and COO Kevin Johnson has revealed, and the company is preparing to roll out its successful Mobile Order and Pay service across the US, UK and Canada before the end of 2015... More
Forecast: 100m Apple Pay-capable phones in US by 2020
Some 100m Apple Pay-capable smartphones will be available in the US in 2020, up from 53m this year, according to Mercator Advisory Group... More
Apple Pay is top choice among US consumers as mobile payment security concerns fade
Apple Pay has become the top choice of services among US consumers planning on using mobile payments in the next 90 days, a survey conducted by 451 Research has found — and consumers increasingly think mobile payments are more secure than credit cards. More
Jawbone adds NFC payments to fitness trackers with AmEx
Wearable device maker Jawbone has unveiled a fitness tracking wristband that can be linked to the wearer’s American Express card account and used to make NFC payments... More
Jawbone to add NFC payments?
Wearable device maker Jawbone could be about to add NFC payment capabilities to its fitness trackers... More
Ebay outlines terms of PayPal split
eBay will be prevented from setting up its own payments company when it spins off PayPal to operate as a standalone business later this year, an SEC filing has revealed... More