Google has introduced a refer-a-friend program to reward consumers with US$5 each time they introduce a friend to Google Wallet... More
Marketing
inMarket hits 18% of US mobile shoppers
Mobile in-store marketing solution provider inMarket’s iBeacon platform now reaches 31.5m monthly active consumers, the equivalent of 18% of all US mobile users, according to research conducted by Comscore... More
Melbourne beacon trial disappoints
Arts Centre Melbourne is rethinking its approach to using Bluetooth beacons after a disappointing pilot that used the technology to send out food and beverage offers to visitors during October’s Melbourne Festival... More
MCX CEO confirms plans to include bank cards in CurrentC wallet
MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson has outlined more of the consortium’s plans for its CurrentC mobile wallet in a keynote presentation at the Money2020 event in Las Vegas, confirming that banks will be able to add open loop payment cards to the service when it goes live in 2015... More
Fresh & Easy tests ATM rewards
Seventeen Fresh & Easy stores in Phoenix are piloting new machines from in-store ATM operator Cardtronics that offer customers discounts they can apply to store purchases by scanning a QR code on their cash withdrawal receipt using a smartphone running the company’s AllTM app... More
MCX prepares to open its wallet to NFC and bank cards
MCX is now open to supporting both NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy for payments and is in conversation with credit card issuers about opening up its CurrentC mobile wallet to payment cards, CEO Dekkers Davidson and COO Scott Rankin have told reporters... More
Ralph Lauren promotes new line with NFC and QR codes in Harrods windows
Ralph Lauren has taken over a 15-window display at luxury retail store Harrods in London to promote the launch of its new Polo Ralph Lauren collection using NFC and QR code stickers provided by proximity commerce specialist Proxama... More
60% of consumers will share data with stores
A majority of Americans (60%) would be comfortable divulging information about themselves anonymously to their favourite stores, a new survey from Wearables.com and The Center for Generational Kinetics reveals... More
Swirl serves ads to shoppers inside stores
Proximity marketing specialist Swirl has unveiled an in-store programmatic ad exchange that enables retailers and brands to reach consumers with relevant content and offers on their smartphones while they shop at participating locations... More
Bookatable tests iBeacon at 119 restaurants
Europe’s largest online restaurant booking website is testing Apple’s iBeacon location technology to send offers and menus to potential diners toting iPhones as they pass by a participating location... More
Revolution Money founder raises funds for location-based marketing venture
Jason Hogg, founder and former CEO of Revolution Money and a co-inventor of the technology behind American Express’ Serve and Bluebird services, has raised US$6.2m for Hangit, a location-based messaging platform that, he told NFC World+, aims to give small merchants “the same skills and capabilities a large retailer would have with their marketing platforms.”... More
Newspaper tests BLE beacons
Dutch newspaper publisher NDC Media is testing Bluetooth beacons with thirty shops in the town of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, to send offers to consumer smartphones running the Lightcurb mobile app... More
Hong Kong carrier SmarTone rolls out Bluetooth marketing platform to retailers
Hong Kong mobile network operator SmarTone has introduced ST Beacon, a marketing service that lets retailers send promotional messages to customers with an Android or iOS device using Bluetooth... More
New Zealand banks and carriers to begin Semble NFC wallet rollout in November
TSM NZ, the NFC payments joint venture between New Zealand’s carriers and the Paymark payments network, has announced a new brand name, a November date for its first trials — and a marketing partnership with Samsung... More
US Tennis Association serves up Bluetooth beacons at Flushing Meadows
The US Tennis Association (USTA) has used a network of Bluetooth beacons placed around the US Open’s Flushing Meadows venue to tailor its mobile app to event attendees, learn how ticket holders moved around the location, and push messages to fans... More
Carlsberg rolls out NFC beer mats and beacons to 250 Danish pubs and bars
Brewer Carlsberg is distributing beer mats containing an NFC tag and a QR code and installing Bluetooth beacons at 250 pubs and bars across Denmark to support its Crowdit offers and venue discovery app. More
Uber runs NFC marketing campaign in London pubs and clubs
Taxi hailing service Uber is running an NFC marketing campaign in more than 100 London pubs, bars and clubs to promote downloads of its app to drinkers looking to book a taxi ride home. More
InMarket reports on attitudes to beacon messages
Sending customers more than one push notification from a beacon platform in the same store leads to a 313% decline in app usage, a study conducted by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) marketing platform InMarket has found... More
Facebook picks Stripe for buy button
Stripe “is the sole Facebook payments partner” for its ‘buy’ button trial, Re/code reports... More
23 Apple patents related to NFC and mobile payments
Apple has been steadily building a portfolio of patents related to NFC and mobile payments over recent years, from as far back as 2009. NFC World+ has reported on these as they have been published and links are provided here to details of 23 patents covering technical innovations and use cases in payments, mobile marketing, coupon delivery, gifting, event ticketing, content sharing, travel and beyond. More