Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched a bank-agnostic payment service for Facebook that will enable 250 million Indian bank account holders to transfer money by choosing a recipient’s name from their friends list... More
Social networking
Facebook picks Stripe for buy button
Stripe “is the sole Facebook payments partner” for its ‘buy’ button trial, Re/code reports... More
New York bars adopt mobile payments service that lets customers send drinks to friends
Twenty bars and restaurants in New York are using a new service that combines mobile payments with social networking, enabling customers to pay their tab, meet up and communicate with friends and send ‘Goodies’ like drinks and food to their contacts... More
Bitcoin gets Facebook transfers
US startup QuickCoin is making it possible for Facebook users to send Bitcoins to friends from within the social networking platform... 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
Bank sends money to Facebook friends
Customers of Singapore’s OCBC Bank can now send up to S$100 a day to any of their Facebook friends from their phone, using a new Pay Anyone feature in the bank’s mobile app... More
Flextown enables digital sharing through NFC business cards
Danish startup Flextown has begun offering an NFC business card service worldwide, allowing consumers to share portfolios of work, videos and other digital content as well as contact details via NFC, QR or Apple’s AirDrop service... More
NFC app wins €10,000
An app that allows NFC wallet users to share information on the purchases they make as well as recommend promotions and businesses to other users has won the €10,000 (US$13,588) first prize in a hackathon organized by Spain’s CaixaBank... More
French gallery shows “ghost images” that can only be seen via NFC
Orange France has teamed with visual artist Pierre Giner and France’s National Centre for Visual Arts to put on an exhibition where artworks can only be seen via NFC. More
Korean art show picks NFC
An exhibition at Seoul’s Savina Museum of Contemporary Art is to use NFC to allow visitors to download high definition images, delve into the stories behind each photograph and write and share reviews on Facebook... More
76% of mobile developers want to use NFC in their apps
More than 31% of mobile developers are supporting NFC in their mobile apps today and an additional 45% plan to support the technology in the next 12 months, according to a Mobile Development Survey released by Evans Data Corporation... More
Adidas adds NFC to running shoes
Sporting goods giant Adidas is adding a “lace jewel” with an embedded NFC chip to its Boost running shoes, enabling shoppers with an NFC phone to tap it for detailed product information and to see reviews... More
South African travel show reports 60,000 NFC uses per day
Attendees at the Indaba 2013 travel show in South Africa used Poken’s NFC social networking platform more than 60,000 times a day to digitally exchange documents and share business cards, the NFC connectivity specialist reports... More
CheckinDJ uses NFC, social media and Spotify to reinvent the jukebox
Venues, or groups of friends, can use the system to choose what music should be played — based on the combined preferences of everyone present at the time. More
The new issue of Mobile Wallet Outlook is now out
The January/February issue of the monthly trends bulletin from the NFC World team’s business intelligence service examines the impact on the mobile wallet market of the new Facebook Card, the arrival of NFC in the home and the latest mobile wallet business developments from around the world. More
Theme park connects visitors to Facebook with NFC
NFC social networking specialist Getyoo has developed a contactless system that allows theme park visitors to post real-time Facebook ‘likes’ for rides they enjoy... More
CommBank adds Kaching for Android — without NFC
“We would prefer to start using the chip that comes with the phone,” says CommBank’s head of online banking, but “currently the NFC chip (the secure element) in Android NFC-enabled phones is not available to us.” More
Sydney picks NFC and QR codes to guide visitors around The Rocks
The New South Wales Government has provided backing for an interactive walking tour of 37 historic sites in The Rocks, the oldest district of Sydney. More
Poken adds UK agent
Poken has appointed audio visual hire specialist Smart AV as its exclusive UK partner... More
Logic Group to provide NFC shopping solutions to European retailers
Customer interaction solutions specialist The Logic Group has signed a deal with Vivotech to introduce integrated NFC solutions to retailers in Europe... More