Oberthur Technologies has acquired Boston-based mobile payments specialist MoreMagic... More
Strategy
Identive cuts non-NFC costs
Identive Group is to cut its global workforce by 11% as part of a cost reduction plan designed to save US$4m to $5m this year... More
Barnes & Noble to add NFC to Nook e-reader
With an NFC-enabled Nook, you could “walk up to any of our pictures, any [of] our aisles, any of our bestseller lists, and just touch the book, and get information on that physical book on your Nook and have some frictionless purchase experience. That’s coming, and we could lead in that area,” the US bookseller’s CEO has told Fortune. More
Telecom Italia to test NFC in Milan
The Italian mobile network operator is to work with French technology cluster Pole SCS on the development of a range of innovative NFC services which will be introduced first in the city of Milan from later this year. More
VeriFone announces NFC POS solution for mobile network operators
POS maker VeriFone has unveiled Paymedia Universal Acceptance Platform (UAP), a new platform designed to make it easy for mobile network operators and other mobile wallet providers to enable merchants to support their NFC payments, couponing and loyalty programmes... More
VeriFone sets out its plan for Point
VeriFone has completed its €600m acquisition of Point International, northern Europe’s largest provider of payment and gateway services and solutions for retailers and a supplier to PayPal’s NFC trial in Stockholm... More
Smartrac acquires NFC tag maker UPM RFID
UPM has sold its RFID and NFC business to leading RFID supplier Smartrac in exchange for shares in OEP Technologie, the majority shareholder in Smartrac... More
Japanese carriers form NFC consortium
NTT Docomo, KDDI and Softbank Mobile have set up the Japan Mobile NFC Consortium with the aim of working together to coordinate the switch from Japan’s existing Osaifu-Keitai non-NFC standard mobile payments system to NFC. More
RIM to launch UK NFC campaign
RIM is to run a series of marketing campaigns designed to educate UK consumers on the benefits of NFC during 2012... More
GSM Association issues new NFC handset requirements
The mobile network operators’ association has published new specifications which could give carriers a major advantage over competing mobile wallet providers but, the GSMA says, the changes are due to technical rather than commercial reasons. More
New report maps out the current status and future trends in the NFC market
A new research report by Sarah Clark, editor of NFC World, sets out the current state of play in the international NFC market, explains the critical factors for success, identifies the issues that remain to be resolved and analyses the opportunities for growth in the year ahead. More
Isis picks Gemalto for NFC mobile commerce platform
The core trusted service management (TSM) platform to be used by the US NFC joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless will be provided by France-based Gemalto. More
mFoundry adds Intel, FIS and Motorola to investor list
The mobile banking platform provider will use $18m of new funding for “the development of new payments-related mobile products and services targeted at financial institutions and mobile network operators.” More
NFC marketers form global alliance
NFC specialists Blue Bite, Proxama and Tapit have formed an alliance that will see them working together to deliver global NFC-based marketing solutions. More
Hungarian mobile operators form NFC alliance
Magyar Telekom, Telenor and Vodafone have joined with MasterCard, OTP Bank and loyalty programme operator SuperShop to establish the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association with the aim of developing a technical and operational infrastructure for NFC services in Hungary. More
US financial institutions wary of investing in mobile payments
Most American financial institutions have clear-cut strategies for mobile banking but say the market will need to mature further before they make any sizeable investments to support mobile payments, research from financial services technology provider Fiserv reveals... More