Apple has acquired RealFace, an Israel-based facial recognition technology startup, in a deal estimated to be “several million dollars,” Israeli financial website Calcalist reports... More
Archive for February 2017
TfL and Barclaycard to extend contactless network
Transport for London (TfL) is aiming to extend contactless payments on its network to further areas outside of the capital, after Barclaycard announced it has retained its contract to provide payment processing solutions to TfL for at least another seven years... More
EMV card shipments grow less than 1% in 2016
Global EMV payment card shipments increased by less than 1% year-on-year in 2016, reaching nearly 3bn, ABI Research says... More
Google Home owners get voice commands for grocery shopping
Owners of the Google Home speaker powered by Google Assistant can now buy groceries using voice commands... More
Kenyan banks roll out PesaLink real-time direct P2P mobile payments
Kenya’s new digital payments platform PesaLink, that will enable consumers to make real-time mobile person-to-person (P2P) payments from US$0.10 up to US$9,650 at any time without having to go through intermediaries, is “expected to cut the cost of transactions and transform the way consumers interact with their banks”, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) says... More
Fashion retailers test smart mirrors for mobile payments
Fashion retailers Ralph Lauren and Rebecca Minkoff are testing smart dressing-room mirrors that will soon allow shoppers to “wave their phones in front of the mirror and make a purchase using Apple Pay or Android Pay”, Bloomberg reports... More
New iPhone to feature 3D laser facial recognition scanner?
Apple’s iPhone 7S, 7S Plus and 8 will come with a 3D laser scanner for facial recognition later this year to replace the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, JPMorgan analyst Rod Hall has told MacRumors... More
Russian mobile network MTS launches first phase of Money Wallet payments, transfer and loyalty service
Russian mobile network operator MTS has launched MTS Money Wallet, an online payments and money transfer service that incorporates loyalty points, offers and discounts, and is to be expanded to transport and in-store payments via NFC, SMS and USSD technologies later this year... More
Amazon and Google to add phone calls for virtual assistants?
Consumers with Amazon Echo or Google Home could use the virtual assistant devices to make or receive phone calls later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports... More
Paytm expects up to 30% fall in offline customers
Indian mobile wallet Paytm “expects to lose 20-30%” of customers making offline payments using QR codes, OTP or mobile-to-mobile transfers when the Reserve Bank of India removes cash withdrawal limits on March 13, The Financial Express reports... More
IBM’s Watson integrates Visa Token Service to enable tokenized payments on connected devices
IBM is to integrate Visa Token Service into its Watson IoT cognitive technology platform to enable payments to be embedded into “any device connected to the Internet of Things (IoT)”, with all of IBM’s Watson IoT Platform customers gaining access to Visa payment services via IBM’s cloud service — rather than businesses needing to be approached on a one-by-one basis... More
Smart home owners can ask Alexa to unlock front door
Homeowners with smart home company August’s Smart Lock system are now able to ask an Amazon Alexa-enabled device to unlock their front door using their voice and a secure voice PIN of four to 12 digits... More
Mobile payments service for children to begin beta trials
Beta tests of the Virtual Piggy mobile payments platform for children, which “offers the ability for children to learn how to use the payment tools of the digital economy” with parental controls built in, will begin in April... More
What’s New in Payments: Leading international innovators explain the latest payments trends and technologies in free special report
Senior executives from Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Barclaycard, Swatch and CaixaBank are among 12 leading payments innovators who have contributed to What’s New in Payments, a 104-page special report that is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Apple patent shows touchscreen fingerprint scanner
A patent shows Apple is working on a “micro-LED active matrix display panel” that would allow a fingerprint scanner to be integrated into an iPhone touchscreen and could eventually replace the current Touch ID button... More
NFC SIM ‘losing its fight’ against HCE
The NFC SIM card is losing its fight against embedded secure elements and host card emulation (HCE) technologies which are “continuing to gain momentum due to ongoing interest from banks, financial institutions and transportation authorities,” ABI Research says... More
Jaguar brings in-car fuel payments to Shell service stations
Luxury car maker Jaguar has begun integrating a mobile payments system into its vehicles, allowing drivers to use PayPal or Apple Pay to pay for fuel at Shell service stations using an app and the touchscreen found inside their vehicle... More
Apple Pay and Android Pay prepare for Korea launch
Apple Pay and Android Pay are preparing to launch in Korea, according to The Korea Herald... More
Citi and Wells Fargo cards ‘not supported’ by Android Wear
Credit cards provided by US banks Citi and Wells Fargo are not supported by Android Wear 2.0, Google’s new version of its wearables operating system which brings host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments to smartwatches... More
Mobile wallet providers ‘failing to realise full potential of loyalty programs’
Mobile financial service providers are failing to fully realise the potential of loyalty programs to drive revenue growth, a survey by customer experience solutions provider Amdocs and consultancy firm Ovum says, while those who employ loyalty programs are “better placed” to increase usage and adoption of their mobile wallet service... More