Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) has partnered with mobile ticketing provider Bytemark to provide travellers on the South Shore Line with a way to purchase and store train tickets on their mobile device... More
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Edgetech to offer acoustic mobile payments in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe-based banking solutions provider Edgetech Solutions is preparing to launch a new mobile payment service that uses sound-based communication technology from NearBytes to let people make payments in stores with their phones... More
Starbucks Korea lets customers place orders with their mobile phone, more countries to follow
Starbucks customers in South Korea have become the first to be able to place their order at the coffee shop chain using their mobile phone... More
Top London shopping street installs beacons in 100 stores
One hundred retailers with stores on London’s upmarket Regent Street, one of the city’s busiest shopping locations, have installed Bluetooth Low Energy beacons that trigger personalized offers and communications for shoppers who have downloaded a mobile app developed by landowner The Crown Estate... More
IEEE tests beacons
The IEEE is using Bluetooth beacons to guide visitors around the International Microwave Symposium being held this week in Tampa, Florida... More
Tesco-backed coffee chain Harris+Hoole introduces mobile payments
Tesco-backed coffee chain Harris+Hoole has updated its mobile app to enable customers to order and pay at any of its 36 outlets without having to touch, tap or scan at a counter... More
Apple opens up Touch ID
The Touch ID fingerprint verification technology built into the iPhone 5S can now be used by third-party developers to secure their applications, Apple’s Craig Federighi announced at the company’s 2014 WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC)... More
French retailer uses PowaTag to create 10,000 virtual shops, major UK chains to follow
French fashion retailer Comptoir des Cotonniers is using a platform developed by Powa Technologies to turn posters, billboards, magazines, cafe table tops, postcards, flyers and clothing into ‘virtual boutiques’ that let consumers order and pay for goods with their mobile phone... More
GE lets retailers send offers to shoppers via LED lighting
GE Lighting and US startup Bytelight have unveiled a marketing platform that lets merchants use LED lighting installed in and around their stores to send offers, directions to particular products and information services to shoppers, based on their precise location within a retail store... More
Alfa-Bank uses activity trackers to offer higher interest rates to customers who exercise
Russia’s Alfa-Bank has introduced a new savings account linked to an activity tracker, which rewards customers who exercise more with a higher interest rate... More
Meadowhall shopping centre provides special offers via Bluetooth LE
Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, UK is to use iBeacon technology to gamify a shopping event, with brands providing offers, discounts, pampering freebies and prize giveaways. Participating retailers include Krispy Kreme, Hotel Chocolat, Cath Kidston and House of Fraser. More
Burger chain gets mobile payments
Customers of Finnish hamburger chain Hesburger can today pay for food, connect their loyalty card and redeem offers using Swedish mobile wallet app SEQR... More
NFC detects fake wine
An NFC-based solution to the growing threat of counterfeit wine sold worldwide has been launched by embedded mobile security firm Inside Secure and object identification specialist Selinko... More
Walmart turns digital receipts into shopping opportunities
The retail giant is introducing a digital receipt service across its 4,200 US stores, enabling shoppers to store a digital version of their receipt in a mobile app by scanning a QR code on their paper receipt or by entering their mobile number at the point of sale. Customers will then be able to use the receipts to create a shopping list on their device, making the in-store experience “easier and more convenient”. More
Payments Council outlines expansion plans for Paym mobile payments platform
More than 500,000 UK bank account holders have signed up for Paym mobile payments since its launch last month, the Payments Council reports, and the organisation is now looking at adding additional proxies to the service, such as email addresses and driving license numbers, as well as making Paym available for other types of payment requests and international transfers... More
Authentify to add fingerprint and NFC security to mobile transactions
Mobile authentication provider Authentify is to provide a way for banks, payments networks and other secure service providers to make use of the fingerprint scanner built into the Samsung Galaxy S5 to add an extra layer of security to mobile transactions... More
Aurnhammer takes BLE on a New York pub crawl
Digital design agency Aurnhammer is using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons placed in bars and restaurants to guide participants to their next pub crawl destination — and provide them with sponsored rewards for taking part... More
Groupon lets merchants redeem vouchers via BLE
Prepaid voucher provider Groupon has launched an iPad-based point-of-sale terminal that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to let merchants “instantly recognize their Groupon customers as they enter their business, seamlessly redeem Groupons and save time and money.”... More
Yoyo raises US$5m for mobile payments at universities
UK-based mobile payments, loyalty and rewards startup Yoyo has raised US$5m to expand its service... More
Tim Hortons rolls out mobile barcode payments across Canada and USA
Canada-based coffee chain Tim Hortons has expanded its mobile payments service, first launched using host card emulation (HCE) technology in December 2013, with the introduction of barcode-based mobile payments across its outlets in the USA and Canada... More