“As early as next year, customers with NFC-enabled smartphones will be able to leave their wallets at home and pay for a morning coffee, an evening out with friends, or groceries, with their handset,” says the carrier’s head of strategy and business development. More
Galaxy S III
Samsung updates TecTiles NFC app
The phone maker’s tag reading/writing app for Android devices now allows users to program tags to perform multiple actions at one time, customize profiles so that tags perform in different ways for different users, and lock a tag so that only the owner can read its contents. More
BNL begins Rome NFC pilot
Italian bank BNL, part of the BNP Paribas group, has begun an NFC payments pilot in Rome... More
MetroPCS to support gWallet
Google has announced that US carrier MetroPCS, soon to merge with T-Mobile, is to add support for Google Wallet... More
Airtag releases Mobile PayPass development kit
NFC specialist Airtag has launched Airtag Kit, an all-in-one tool set designed to make it easier for banks, financial institutions and mobile network operators to develop MasterCard Mobile PayPass wallet applications... More
Orange launches NFC in Poland
The carrier has partnered with mBank and MasterCard for the national launch of Orange Cash, a commercial NFC service that is available on nine different mobile phone models. More
Samsung adds Galaxy S III Mini with NFC
Samsung has announced a smaller, less powerful version of its flagship Galaxy S III handset... More
ANZ to launch NFC payments in 2013
Australian banking group ANZ has begun an NFC payments field trial and announced plans to launch a commercial service in 2013... More
US Cellular to add Google Wallet?
A leaked device service bulletin from US Cellular spotted by Android Police indicates that the US mobile network operator is about to add support for Google Wallet, beginning with the Samsung Galaxy S III... More
HID Global reports on Silicon Valley NFC access control pilots
A survey of participants in trials conducted at the offices of Netflix and Good Technology has found that more than 80% saw the technology as intuitive and easy to use. More
Samsung picks NFC as key S III advantage over iPhone 5
A viral video advertising the Samsung Galaxy S III has highlighted the smartphone’s NFC capabilities, picking the technology as one of the key differentiating factors between Samsung’s flagship phone and Apple’s iPhone 5:... More
Visa releases Olympics NFC and contactless usage statistics
“The response has been extremely positive and our priority now is on turning that enthusiasm into commercial mobile payment deployments across Europe,” says Visa’s Mary Carol Harris, adding that “we recognise that the journey is a marathon, not a sprint.” More
Orange and Barclaycard add Galaxy S III to Quick Tap NFC payments service
The UK carrier and card issuer’s service is now available on an Android smartphone for the first time and customers who activate Quick Tap on an S III by 5 October will receive a £50 credit they can use to make NFC purchases with their phone. More
Telefonica begins commercial NFC service in Czech Republic
Two thousand customers who purchase a Samsung Galaxy S III are to be the first Czech consumers to take part in a commercial NFC payments service, offered by carrier Telefonica in conjunction with Komerční Banka, Visa Europe and Samsung. More
Isis NFC phones appear on MasterCard list
A number of NFC phones marked as approved for use by the three mobile network operator partners in NFC venture Isis have appeared on MasterCard’s list of approved mobile devices, adding to speculation that Isis is close to launching its pilots in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas... More
National NFC service to go live in Singapore this month
Mobile network operator StarHub, part of the consortium which won a government contract to provide a national NFC TSM service for Singapore last year, has unveiled its NFC SmartWallet and says the service will begin “later this month”. More
Hands on with the Visa Olympics NFC phone
1,000 Samsung Galaxy S III NFC phones equipped with a Visa mobile payments app are being distributed to “key stakeholders and decision makers” for the London 2012 Olympics, where all points of sale will be equipped to handle contactless payments — and NFC World has been testing out one of the limited edition devices. More
Samsung paves the way for NFC ticketing at music events
The handset maker has teamed up with events promoter Kilimanjaro Live to replace traditional tickets with contactless wristbands that provide access to the events and can be linked to ticket holders’ social media profiles. More
Samsung launches TecTiles NFC tags and programming application
Sets of five TecTiles can be ordered online or bought in store for US$14.99 from all four major US carriers and can be used to program a variety of NFC-initiated functions. “Most of the tag types you make will work on nearly all phones which have NFC hardware,” says Samsung. More
9m NFC phones on order
Samsung has taken preorders for some nine million Galaxy S III handsets from more than 100 mobile networks, Reuters reports... More