Half a billion people in China use mobile payment — ECNS — “More than 100bn transactions were completed on cashless applications in China in 2016, while the number of mobile payment users has reached half a billion this year, according to official data.”
Archive for August 2017
Introducing Venmo Codes: A new way to find your friends on Venmo
Introducing Venmo Codes: A new way to find your friends on Venmo — Venmo — “We know that sometimes it can be hard finding the right James Smith to pay or request money from on Venmo. To make your life easier, we’re introducing Venmo codes, so you can easily find the Venmo profile of the person you’re trying to pay.”
ST offers technical guidance on deploying NFC readers
An in-depth presentation on STMicroelectronics’ ST25R NFC reader family that sets out the technical requirements for integrating NFC services in a wide variety of markets including payments, access control, connected homes and automotive applications is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Mobile payments in China: How the tech giants are changing the future of payments
An in-depth article that provides an expert analysis of how the traditionally cash-focused landscape in China has been “completely transformed” by the introduction of digital and mobile payment services like Alipay and WeChat Pay is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
iPhone 8 facial recognition will likely work with Apple Pay
iPhone 8 facial recognition will likely work with Apple Pay — MacRumours — “We’ve already seen confirmation that Apple is working on facial recognition in the iPhone 8 through a recent HomePod firmware release, and now additional information found in the code confirms Apple has a mechanism for authenticating Touch ID payments with a face scan instead of through a fingerprint.”
Italian consumers can now make P2P payments in stores
Jiffy, the P2P payments service that lets 4.2 million Italian consumers send money from their bank account using just the contacts list on their smartphone, has begun rolling out to retail stores with an initial launch in 150 outlets in the cities of Milan, Rome and Turin... More
USAA launches pilot of new skill for Amazon Alexa
USAA launches pilot of new skill for Amazon Alexa — USAA — “USAA’s skill for Amazon Alexa pilot will leverage Clinc’s artificial intelligence conversation management technology to produce a more human-like interaction from Amazon Alexa, as the skill remembers context, follow-up questions, and complex human language. This technology will also learn as members interact with it and infer information not explicitly specified by users throughout a conversation.”
RFID market to reach US$11.2bn in 2017
RFID market to reach US$11.2bn in 2017 — IDTechEx — “In total, IDTechEx expects that 18.2bn tags will be sold in 2017 versus 15.2bn in 2016. Most of that growth is from passive UHF (Rain) RFID labels. However, in 2017 UHF RFID tag sales by value will be 25% of the value of HF tag sales, mainly because HF tags where used for security (such as payments, access etc) have a higher price point versus the cheaper, usually disposable labels used for tagging things.”
Soon, walk into metro station without taking your card from pocket
Soon, walk into metro station without taking your card from pocket — The Times of India — “Chennai Metro Rail Limited has invited tenders to introduce contactless smart cards which can be detected by scanners at stations even if the passenger keeps it in the pocket or a bag. The ticket price will be deducted once the passenger passes by the detector at the entrance to the platforms. These cards may later be used for other modes of transport as well.”
You can now send money with PayPal in the Skype mobile app
You can now send money with PayPal in the Skype mobile app — PayPal — “PayPal is now partnering with Skype to allow users in 22 countries to send money to other Skype users with PayPal via their Skype mobile app. With over one billion Skype mobile downloads to date globally, users will be able to use PayPal directly from their Skype app to seamlessly send money in the moment – like for a gift for a family member across the country or internationally.”
New bill seeks basic IoT security standards
New bill seeks basic IoT security standards — Krebs on Security — “The bill would require vendors of internet-connected devices purchased by the federal government make sure the devices can be patched when security updates are available; that the devices do not use hard-coded (unchangeable) passwords; and that vendors ensure the devices are free from known vulnerabilities when sold.”
French rock band takes NFC vending machine on tour
PARTNER NEWS: US fans of French rock band Phoenix can use their bank card or mobile phone to purchase merchandise during concerts from a specially commissioned pop-up vending machine that makes use of USA Technologies’ cashless payment technology and is designed to appeal to the band’s primarily post-millennial fan base... More
Klarna launches Wavy peer-to-peer payment service
Klarna launches Wavy peer-to-peer payment service — Klarna — “Wavy enables consumers across 31 European markets to smoothly transfer money (Euros) and split bills amongst friends, colleagues and family members… The recipient of the payment does not have to sign up to Wavy to redeem a payment.”
Apple Pay to go live in four more countries this year
Consumers in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates will be able to use Apple Pay “before the end of this calendar year”, the iPhone maker’s chief financial officer has revealed during Apple’s Q3 2017 earnings call... More
RBC first bank in Canada to enable bill payments using Siri
RBC first bank in Canada to enable bill payments using Siri — Royal Bank of Canada — “Thanks to an update to the RBC Mobile app, Royal Bank of Canada personal banking clients are now the first in Canada who can ask Siri to pay their bills on iPhone and iPad. RBC also launched seamless Interac e-Transfer payments within iMessage, which means clients can send a transfer without leaving their iMessage window.”
Paytm to launch chat feature in mobile app
Paytm to launch chat feature in mobile app — Economic Times — “Digital payments company Paytm will launch a chat facility built into its mobile app which will allow user-to-user communication. The feature is expected to be launched later this month.”
UK retailers call for higher contactless transaction limit
More than half of UK retailers that accept contactless payments would like to see the spending limit raised above the current £30 (US$40) cap, with 37% opting for £50 (US$66) and one in five hoping to see a £100 (US$132) ceiling, research released by Barclaycard ahead of the tenth anniversary of the launch of contactless payments in the UK reveals... More
EMVCo publishes specification for merchant-presented QR code payments
Payments standards body EMVCo has added a specification for QR code payments in merchant-presented mode, following on from a spec for QR code payments in consumer-presented mode that it released in mid-July... More