Hong Kong mobile network operator SmarTone has unveiled Kissco, an end-to-end mobile marketing platform incorporating Kiss Pay, a mobile payments service based on NFC and ultrasound technology, a Kiss Dollars loyalty program and Kiss Beacons to allow retailers to send out offers and promotions directly to customers’ smartphones from their stores... More
Mobile payment provider Flint has added a new feature to its platform that lets its business users create coupons and distribute them to Apple Wallet users... More
Guests at hotel chain Hampton Inn are to be greeted with personalised messages, digital concierge services, directions and tailored offers on their smartphones via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons deployed across Seattle... More
Twitter is reportedly integrating with e-commerce platform Shopify to offer its Buy buttons to a wider range of businesses... More
Pay-as-you-go customers of Vodafone UK can now top up their mobile phones via Powa Technologies’ mobile payment platform PowaTag in more than 500 Vodafone stores as well as Argos, Brighthouse, Co-Op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, JD Williams and Wilkinson... More
MasterCard’s token platform MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) could soon be rolled out across Australia following its launch in the US in September 2014... More
Burger King is to add MasterCard’s MasterPass functionality to its mobile app, allowing customers in the US to find the nearest restaurant, explore the menu and pay directly with their phone... More
Supermarket giant Carrefour has installed 600 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons in its 28 hypermarkets in Romania to guide shoppers around the stores and to deliver personalised promotions and offers either directly to their smartphones or to Samsung tablets affixed to the handles of their shopping carts. More
A new joint venture that includes the US-based Mayo Clinic and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute is developing an NFC-based diabetes monitoring system to replace the traditional glucometers that are currently used to monitor patients’ blood sugar levels. The system will also use phones to control insulin delivery, using disposable NFC insulin delivery systems. More
One97 Communications, owner of mobile payment platform Paytm, has asked Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase the limit on money that can be kept in a mobile wallet to Rs 25,000 (US$393) from Rs 10,000 (US$157)... More
Google has introduced an open format for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that is designed to address the shortcomings of existing beacon services and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. More
Commuters in Toronto will be able to pay for and display tickets on their mobile phones using Toronto Transit Commission’s TTCconnect app that is to be integrated with Bytemark’s mobile ticketing platform... More
CU Wallet, a mobile payments platform developed for US credit unions, is to integrate merchant offers and promotions through a partnership with Relevant Solutions... More
American Express has launched an online checkout service that works across desktop, mobile and native apps to let its US card members make payments with their existing American Express user ID and password, without having to create or manage a new account... More
US restaurants using Revel Systems’ iPad point-of-sale service will be able to activate mobile payments platform Zapper as an additional payment option for customers... More
Ant Financial has released a new version of its Alipay app for iOS and Android, adding new Friends and Merchants tabs that provide support for peer-to-peer payments and for Koubei, the US$1bn mobile commerce joint venture between Ant Financial and Alibaba that was announced last month. More
More than 400,000 viewers of France’s largest television shopping network will soon be able to buy products featured on the TV channel by holding up their smartphone to the screen to scan audio tags that will then redirect them to the item’s online page where they can make a purchase using their stored payment information... More
Guests using Cathay Pacific’s business and first class lounge at San Francisco International Airport will be able to receive information about food and beverage menus and other available amenities with their smartphone via beacons installed across the lounge... More
An undisclosed global payments company is to incorporate bendable fingerprint sensors into smart cards as part of a worldwide program to be rolled out in partnership with Norwegian biometrics provider Idex... More
Indonesia’s largest smartphone and tablet manufacturer is to pre-install a mobile wallet on up to three million of its mobile devices annually, allowing users to make QR code-based in-store payments, online payments and P2P funds transfers using a platform supplied by mobile wallet provider Cellum... More