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
Archive for February 2016
Payleven raises $10m for mPOS growth
European mobile point of sale specialist Payleven has closed a US$10m Series D funding round, bringing the total raised to date to $51m... More
GSMA publishes IoT security guidelines
The GSMA has published a set of security guidelines for service providers developing new Internet of Things (IoT) products and services... More
Security update fixes Apple Pay flaw
Apple has released a security update that fixes more than 100 iOS bugs, including a vulnerability in Apple Pay that allowed third parties to see sensitive information as a payment was made... More
Ireland looks to NFC payments for public transport
Commuters on Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann rail services may soon be able to pay for transport with a tap of an NFC device under plans put forward by public transport operator CIÉ... More
Android users to get app-free beacon messages
Google has begun supporting the physical web in its Chrome browser for Android, enabling users to discover web content relevant to their surroundings via Eddystone Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons — without needing to download a specific app... More
Mobeam update brings loyalty to POS scanners
Mobeam has updated its mobile coupon and offer app Beep’nGo to let customers use retail loyalty cards, gift cards and barcode coupons on their smartphone at checkout scanners for the first time... More
Apple Pay glitch prevents users adding Visa cards
Apple has now resolved a service outage that meant users were unable to add credit cards and debit cards to Apple Pay for almost seven hours today... More
Mobile savings club scoops innovation award
PARTNER NEWS: Mahindra Comviva and mobile money and payments provider EcoCash have won the Best Mobile Innovation prize at the sixth Kalahari Awards for the EcoCash Savings Club... More
Visa offers mobile card controls
Consumers will soon be able to stop transactions taking place if their card is lost or stolen, set spending controls and receive transaction alerts on their smartphone via a new service launched by Visa... More
Kiwis warm to mobile payments and biometrics
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
Apple Pay reaches mobile app inflection point
Apple Pay has seen an acceleration in mobile app acceptance across the US, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who calls it an “inflection point” in a recent investor note reported by Quartz... More
ANZ launches HCE mobile payments in Australia
Customers of Australia’s ANZ bank can now make host card emulation (HCE) based mobile payments “with the broadest range of cards on offer” using a new ANZ Mobile Pay service. More
Paym reports 89% increase in use in second half of 2015
More than £146m has been sent using peer-to-peer mobile payments platform Paym since its launch in 2014, with 1.46m payments sent in the second half of 2015 compared to 774,628 in its first six months — an increase of 89% — the company has revealed. More
Apple’s Error 53 shuts down handsets with Touch ID repairs
iPhone 6 users have been left with broken handsets as a result of Apple’s latest iOS 9 operating system update permanently disabling devices if it detects that Touch ID’s hardware integrity has been compromised — such as by being repaired by a non-Apple technician... More
3bn loyalty cards will move to mobile by 2020
More than 3bn loyalty cards will operate as mobile-only or will be integrated into mobile apps by 2020, up from 1.4bn last year, Juniper Research predicts... More
FitPay launches Kickstarter campaign to bring NFC smartstrap to market
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
Cash by Optus adds contactless bands and stickers to reach beyond Android owners
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
Super Bowl fans explore Bay Area with BLE beacons
Attendees at Super Bowl 50 over the weekend were notified of related events, points of interest and prizes on their smartphones via a mobile app and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons installed in locations across the San Francisco Bay Area... More
Kazakhstan gets HCE payments
Customers of Kazkommertsbank (KKB) in Kazakhstan can now make host card emulation (HCE) based NFC mobile payments using a new service launched in partnership with Visa... More