US grocery chain Marsh Supermarkets is to use Bluetooth beacons to deliver targeted information such as shopping lists and recipes directly to a shopper’s Apple Watch or smartphone, marking the “world’s first iBeacon-wearable integration at retail”... More
More than half (53%) of US consumers think it is important for more retailers to install devices that enable them to pay with their smartphones, a Verifone survey conducted by Wakefield Research has revealed, with 84% prepared to use their smartphones to pay for small and medium purchases such as a cup of coffee or a pair of jeans... More
Wintrust Financial is updating its fleet of 190 ATMs in Chicago to enable its mobile banking customers to withdraw cash by requesting money on their smartphone then scanning an on-screen QR code when they get to the ATM. More
US carrier-owned mobile payments venture Softcard has laid off 60 employees out of an employee base of “hundreds” as part of an effort to “reduce costs and strengthen its business”... More
A US startup is taking pre-orders for a biometrically secured mobile wallet, consisting of a payment app and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based “bio-sticker” attached to the back of the user’s phone... More
BMW has partnered with MasterCard to offer an NFC-enabled contactless credit card that makes it possible to hire, unlock and operate a BMW or Mini from a car rental fleet that has more than 2,800 vehicles and more than 350,000 users in the US, UK, Germany and Austria... More
Beacon solution provider Kontakt.io is hosting a Bluetooth-based treasure hunt with a million dollar prize at the CES in Las Vegas... More
An NFC-enabled luggage lock that can be unlocked with a tap of an NFC device or a pre-programmed NFC tag has been shown off at CES in Las Vegas... More
US mall operator Taubman is piloting BLE beacons for an indoor navigation service at its Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, Florida, with plans to roll out the platform to other properties throughout the year... More
Visitors at this year’s International CES in Las Vegas will be guided around the mammoth tradeshow with their smartphones and Bluetooth beacons provided by Radius Networks... More
Apple Pay accounted for 1% of all US digital spend in November 2014 just a month after its launch, research from ITG has revealed... More
OnStar, a General Motors subsidiary that provides subscription-based in car communications, security, navigation and remote diagnostics throughout the US, Canada and China, is to roll out an extension to its platform that will enable retailers to send drivers coupons tied to their specific destinations. More
Twenty-six McDonald’s franchises in Columbus, Georgia have installed Bluetooth beacons that can be used to deliver coupons, alerts, employment opportunities and customer satisfaction surveys directly to a consumer’s smartphone as they enter a participating location... More
Consumers scanned more than 4.5m barcodes with Scandit-powered mobile shopping apps this Black Friday, the company has revealed, “with some US-based apps experiencing as much as 40 times increase over last year”... More
The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in the US is developing a smartphone-based driver’s license using an app that would co-exist with traditional plastic cards, WSJ reports... More
The iOS version of Google Wallet now enables users to use Touch ID fingerprint verification for “secure and quick access” to the mobile wallet... More
Three in four online buyers (76%) are dissatisfied with the strength of credit card and personal information security among retailers with some 72% of respondents saying they trust their own bank the most with credit card data and personally identifiable information, US research from Bizrate Insights reveals... More
Samsung is in talks with mobile payments startup LoopPay with a view to launching a mobile payments system to rival Apple Pay in the US in 2015, “multiple sources” have told Re/code... More
Visitors to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York are to be given the opportunity to use an NFC pen to interact with a range of NFC-enabled multi-touch display tables, enabling them to ‘draw’ on the tables and keep track of the objects in the collection that they interact with... More
Apple Pay has signed up support from “dozens more banks, retail stores and start-ups”, with new additions including SunTrust, Barclaycard, USAA, TD Bank North America, Commerce Bank and Amway Center — the home of the Orlando Magic basketball team — The New York Times reports... More