What's New in Payments

7-Eleven to open unmanned convenience stores in Japan

7-Eleven opens trial store in Tokyo using facial recognition payment system — The Mainichi — “Convenience store giant Seven-Eleven Japan Co launched a trial 7-Eleven store with a self-checkout system using facial recognition technology here on Dec 17 as it aims to promote labour-saving measures and introduce cashless payments amid concerns of labour shortages… Seven-Eleven Japan Co plans to install the system at small-scale 7-Eleven outlets, such as those inside office buildings, making it the first convenience store chain of its kind in Japan.”


What's New in Payments

Tokyo Racecourse to replace betting slips with contactless cards and biometrics

Fujitsu’s cashless betting machines use palm vein authentication to support Japan Racing Organization — Fujitsu — “The betting machines will allow users to place bets without using cash by simply holding their hands out to the machine and using their JRA-Umaca contactless membership card… The purchase information is recorded on the JRA-Umaca card making it unnecessary to print a paper betting ticket, and if they make an accurate prediction, winnings will be paid out to the JRA-Umaca card automatically.”


What's New in Payments

SoftBank and Paytm to launch mobile payments service in Japan?

SoftBank plans payments service for Japan by year-end — Bloomberg — “The service, a collaboration with Indian startup Paytm, will make extensive use of artificial intelligence for mobile payments and other financial services, the people said, asking to not be identified as the plans are private. An announcement is imminent, they said. Dozens of Paytm employees are working in Tokyo on getting the service up and running, one of the people said.”


What's New in Payments

Apple Pay to go live in Norway, Poland and Ukraine as transit ticketing drives consumer adoption

Apple financial results conference call Q2 2018 — Apple — “We believe the availability of Apple Pay at major transit systems have been a key driver of adoption among commuters… Apple Pay is already the most successful mobile transit payment system in Tokyo, which has the busiest transit system of all. With the launch of Brazil in April, Apple Pay is now available in 21 markets and we expect Norway, Poland and Ukraine to launch in the next several months.”


NFC World

Apple’s Gymkit with NFC begins to gain traction

GymKit continues global expansion with new announcement from Life Fitness — 9to5Mac — “Earlier today, Technogym announced that it has deployed some 5,000 GymKit-enabled cardio machines since November. Following that announcement, Life Fitness announced this evening that it is expanding its rollout of GymKit equipment around the world… Life Fitness says that its Fitness IFC location in Hong Kong and Anytime Fitness Japan’s Ebisu location in Tokyo will be the first locations to add the new machinery, with other locations following as time progresses.”


What's New in Payments

JCB to trial biometric technology that uses visible light to read palm prints and vein patterns

JCB to test multipurpose biometric authentication for potential launch of authentication and payment scheme using visible light palm authentication — JCB — “JCB will be running a trial of multipurpose server-based visible light palm authentication in February at JCB headquarters in Tokyo, Japan… The trial will focus on testing technical aspects during the registration and payment flow: capturing customer palm print and vein patterns with a smartphone camera, storing the patterns on a server, performing authentication, and returning the results to the smartphone.”




What's New in Payments

NEC employees trial facial recognition for payments

NEC

Employees at NEC Corporation’s head office in Tokyo are trialling the use of facial recognition to authenticate purchases made in small shops inside the building. The trial began in June 2016 and will run until August as part of NEC’s efforts to “apply its biometrics authentication technologies to a range of services including cashless payment”. More






What's New in Payments

Hailo reports on BLE payments in taxis

Hailo

Pay with Hailo, a service that uses Apple’s iBeacon technology to let users of the Hailo taxi hailing app pay drivers with their smartphone, is experiencing “steady growth”, Naoise Irwin, the company’s VP of strategic initiatives, has told NFC World+ — and Hailo now plans to roll out the service across its growing international network... More