Android Pay has signed up “millions” of users since its launch in the US in September 2015, Google’s Sridhar Ramaswamy has told attendees during his keynote at Money20/20. He also announced that single tap loyalty rewards are set to go live at NFC-enabled Coke vending machines in the next “few weeks”. More
Charity
Researchers unveil breakthrough in weaving NFC chips into clothes
Researchers from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) have invented a method of embedding NFC chips into yarns which are then woven and knitted to make fabrics for clothing... More
30% of donors use contactless card during London charity trial
Nearly a third of shoppers at Westfield London shopping centre who donated to charity during a 100-day pilot put in place by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Save the Children and Visa Europe Collab used their contactless card, as did one in five who donated at one of the city’s Costa coffee shop counter collection points... More
Rhombus launches SMS mobile payments platform in the US
Payments startup Rhombus has launched a platform in the US that lets consumers send payments and donations to businesses on any mobile device by texting the amount owed and a description of what they want to buy to a dedicated Rhombus number... More
StreetSmart offers QR code mobile donations
StreetSmart, an organisation that raises money for homeless charities by adding a voluntary £1 donation onto bills in participating restaurants, is enabling diners to make a mobile donation by scanning QR codes distributed on table cards in more than 600 locations across the UK... More
Oxfam tests NFC for donations and content sharing
Oxfam is to trial NFC-enabled interactive posters, wristbands and collection tins in UK towns to let supporters make donations and see video content highlighting the charity’s work using their NFC phones... More
All smiles as UK shoppers use contactless to give to charity
UK shoppers have been able to make contactless donations to a national charity via 10 larger-than-life statues of famous comedians placed in cities across the country... More
Cancer Research brings contactless donations to shop windows
Cancer Research UK is to install contactless technology in four of its shop windows, enabling passersby to make a £2 donation to the charity by simply tapping their contactless card to a POS terminal placed on the other side of the glass... More
Contactless donations expand in London
Caffe Nero and Leon Restaurants have become the first UK retailers to join Penny for London, a service first introduced on the Transport for London (TfL) network that automatically collects small charitable donations when participating consumers use their contactless cards to pay... More
HouseTab drives usage with charity donations
Mobile app HouseTab is to donate US$1 to the Food Bank For New York City each time someone registers to use the app until the beginning of January, and will make additional donations every time the app is used to pay for a tab or to send drinks or food... More
Post Office offers Tweet-to-donate service
The Post Office has launched Tweet to Donate, a service developed with IMImobile that allows Twitter users to tweet cash donations to the UK’s Children in Need charity... More
Charity picks up contactless pennies
The Mayor’s Fund for London has launched Penny for London, a service that automatically collects small charitable donations when commuters use their contactless cards to pay for journeys on the Transport for London (TfL) network... More
Bendigo Bank launches QR code mobile payments in Australia
Australia’s Bendigo Bank has partnered with Samsung to rollout Redy, a mobile payments service that lets shoppers make payments and receive rewards by scanning a QR code generated by a merchant’s tablet-based POS terminal... More
Charity raises funds via NFC wristbands
Special care baby charity Bliss is using NFC wristbands to make it easier for supporters to generate donations from people they meet... More
CaixaBank integrates bank accounts with Facebook
Spain’s CaixaBank has become the first bank in Europe to launch a Facebook application that allows users to view their bank accounts and perform transactions via the social network... More
Bank develops NFC suit that lets customers pay by swiping a sleeve
Australia’s Heritage Bank has unveiled prototypes of a suit that comes with an embedded NFC chip and antenna to allow its wearer to make NFC payments at contactless POS terminals by simply swiping their sleeve... More
The Royal British Legion tries NFC for Poppy Appeal
The Royal British Legion has used NFC to make it easier for consumers to make a donation to the 2013 Poppy Appeal, in partnership with Proxama and mobile commerce and marketing platform Paythru... More
UN prompts givers to feed hungry children with NFC
A week-long campaign run by advertising agency Grabarz & Partner on behalf of UN World Food Programme (WFP) has enabled people in the city of Halle, Germany, to make charitable donations via NFC... More
Charity adds emotion to missing person posters with NFC
A poster campaign for British charity Missing People uses NFC tags to enable users to listen to a recording of a phone call made to the charity in order to “create an immediate emotional response to the advertisement and help the charity demonstrate what it’s like for those who don’t know how to make that first call.” More