PARTNER NEWS: NXP has put its support behind two new reference platforms that will enable “innovation and rapid development” for smart wearables. The platforms target a range of internet of things (IoT) applications with open-source hardware and software, form-factor flexibility and expandable solutions for designers to adapt to changing market needs. More
Car manufacturer Seat, Samsung Electronics and software giant SAP have created a technological alliance to develop connected car projects that could enable drivers to reserve car parking spaces and pay with a fingerprint using Samsung Pay. The companies are showing their ideas at Mobile World Congress this week. More
PARTNER NEWS: A new reference design for wearables from processor designer ARM includes high-performance NFC technology from AMS that enables small-footprint devices with tiny antennas to couple with NFC readers as easily and reliably as a contactless card... More
Security specialist WiseKey and MasterCard are working together to enable NFC payments on luxury watches and wearables... More
Connected device maker Coin has launched a developer program to accelerate the integration of payments into wearables... More
PARTNER NEWS: NFC pioneer NXP and mobile processor maker Qualcomm have extended a collaboration which saw NXP’s NFC and embedded secure element (eSE) solutions built into reference designs for Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 600, 400 and 200 processor based platforms to now also include pre-validation for NFC-based transit services, particularly those in China. More
Visa is expanding its Visa Ready certification program to include Internet of Things (IoT) companies such as manufacturers of wearables, automobiles, appliances and clothing so that secure payments can be added to a wider range of connected devices, the payment network has announced at Mobile World Congress. More
Swiss luxury watchmaker Mondaine is to add NFC payment capability to a variety of its watches, starting with its Mondaine Helvetica No1 smartwatch, that will let wearers make payments with a tap of their wrist at any contactless enabled terminal. More
Supporters of Spanish football club Málaga Club de Fútbol (CF) can now get contactless payment wristbands branded with the club’s logo from their local CaixaBank branches and be rewarded for using the device... More
Visa Europe has expanded its tokenization service to include support for services where payment credentials are stored in the cloud — such as banks’ own mobile payment apps, wearables and other connected devices — as well as for internet browser-based wallets, retailer-specific checkout offerings like Visa Checkout and card on file payment options... More
India’s Axis Bank has partnered with fitness technology provider GOQii to develop a wearable device that will allow its customers to make contactless payments... More
More than four in ten New Zealanders (41%) would consider using NFC mobile payments today and 44% believe mobile payments will be the next thing to take off, followed by biometrics/facial recognition/fingerprints (21%) and wearable technology (18%), research from MasterCard reveals... More
Wearable payments company FitPay has launched a campaign on Kickstarter to crowdfund the production of an NFC payment smartstrap for the Pebble Time family of smartwatches. More
Consumers using Cash by Optus — the prepaid NFC SIM-based payments service launched by Australian mobile network operator Optus in November 2014 — can now make payments using a contactless wristband or a sticker attached to their mobile phone. More
Wearable payments provider FitPay has closed a US$3.1m seed funding round led by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D)... More
A patent filed by Samsung describes how a sensor on a smartwatch or other wearable device could authenticate identity by reading the user’s vein structure... More
Apple Watch users can now pay for parking across the US directly from their wrist with a “few simple taps” using the MobileNow! app. The service can also be used to extend parking sessions. More
British singer songwriter Beatie Wolfe is promoting the release of her new single with an NFC jacket that lets fans listen to the song by tapping their NFC phone onto the fabric... More
Visitors to this summer’s Rio 2016 Olympics will be able to use luxury watchmaker Swatch’s Bellamy NFC smartwatch to pay for event passes, according to the Financial Times... More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP and transaction technology provider Carta are to integrate Carta’s digital transaction platform with NXP’s NFC capabilities, with the aim of enabling NFC payments, loyalty and offers to be deployed across a wide range of mobile, wearable and connected devices... More