New versions of nine NFC Forum specifications have been published today, including version 1.3 of the NFC Connection Handover Technical Specification which now provides a way to use an intermediary NFC device to set up a connection between two other NFC devices located at a distance from each other... More
Canadian carrier-owned TSM provider EnStream is to use Bell ID’s Trusted Service Manager platform to provision and manage secure applications on consumers’ NFC devices... More
Payments NZ, the organization responsible for overseeing New Zealand’s payments infrastructure, has published a set of rules and standards for mobile devices ahead of the planned rollout of NFC payments in the country later this year. More
The NFC Forum has issued a statement outlining its position on host card emulation (HCE)... More
Japanese carrier KDDI, Korea’s SK Planet, Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) are to work together to spread adoption of NFC services in Asia, using a shared NFC tag specification, brand mark and platform... More
Visa has introduced a new standard that uses host card emulation (HCE) to enable financial institutions to securely host Visa accounts in the cloud... More
Spain’s Bankinter is to commercially launch an NFC mobile payments service that makes use of host card emulation (HCE) during the second or third quarter of 2014... More
Three French banks will launch national NFC services in partnership with carriers this year, the new president of the association responsible for bringing NFC to market in France has told NFC World — but transforming consumers into active and frequent users will be critical to success. More
The GSMA has published version 2.0 of its NFC Handset Test Book (PDF), a collection of test cases to be used for checking the NFC functionality in mobile devices... More
The SD Association (SDA), the organisation responsible for setting memory card standards, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the NFC Forum “to jointly educate the market and help build the ecosystem for NFC among users of smartSD memory cards”... More
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has installed an NFC boarding gate, supplied by air transport IT specialist Sita, allowing passengers to validate their boarding pass with a touch of their NFC smartphone... More
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published a draft specification for an NFC API that will provide web developers with a standard way to access the NFC functionality on an NFC-enabled device... More
Secure element standards organisation GlobalPlatform has published a new framework for secure NFC service deployment, designed to reduce both time to market and overall deployment costs... More
Point of sale and payments specialist Merchant360 has introduced a software plug-in for Ingenico and VeriFone terminals that enables merchants to send marketing messages and coupons to customers via NFC, without the retailer needing to partner with wallet providers like Isis and Google... More
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published a summary of a June meeting of its Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup (MPIW) that sets out a number of reasons why NFC has not yet taken off in the US... More
The Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) has issued Best Practice for NFC Mobile Payment in Hong Kong, a set of common standards and best practices that aims to help establish an interoperable, as well as safe and effective, NFC mobile payment infrastructure... More
The US Department of Defense is considering using NFC for mobile device authentication, reports Federal News Radio... More
NXP Semiconductors has announced a new series of diodes designed to protect NFC antennas and controllers in mobile devices against damage from electrostatic discharge (ESD)... More
Electronic components maker Pulse Electronics has introduced an ultrathin NFC antenna that measures 35mm by 50mm by just 0.133mm, making it 28% slimmer than its previous version... More
Rugged phone maker RugGear will include NFC in its next handset, a fully waterproof and dustproof 5.3-inch Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean smartphone... More