PARTNER NEWS: Banks can now use a service from NFC payments specialist Dejamobile to let new customers open a bank account, confirm their identity using approved Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, request and receive an NFC bank card and begin making mobile payments — all from their smartphone and in under five minutes... More
NFC World partners Antelop Solutions, Dejamobile, Rambus and STMicroelectronics will be at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona from 26 February to 1 March... More
Mobile wallet is gradually displacing cash in India, says GlobalData — GlobalData — “India is one of the top markets globally in terms of mobile wallet adoption with 55.4% survey respondents indicating that they have a mobile wallet and use it. India is followed by China and Denmark… Mobile wallet transactions grew manifold in last five years, rising from R24bn (US$370.6m) in 2013 to R955bn ($14.74bn) in 2017, and will surpass R1tn ($15.44bn) mark in early 2018.”
Chinese New Year by the numbers — Alibaba — “More than 251 million people used Alipay to collect RMB 500m ($78.8m) worth of red packets as part of the platform’s New Year promotions… The exchanges came from countries as far as Argentina and Norway, and from a total of over 2,300 cities worldwide.”
Annual Apple Pay review: Adoptions jumps, but still a long way to go — Loup Ventures — “The number of banks globally that support Apple Pay increased in the past year by 41% to 2,707 banks. We believe there are 127m global active Apple Pay users, up from 62m a year ago. This represents 16% of the active iPhone base… Between 20% and 30% of US iPhone owners use Apple Pay. ~30% of new iPhones are activating Apple Pay.”
Amazon plans to open as many as six more cashier-less Amazon Go stores this year — Recode — “Some of the new high-tech stores are likely to open in Amazon’s hometown of Seattle, where the first location is based, as well as Los Angeles… It’s not clear if Amazon will open up Go stores in any other cities this year.”
WeChat red packet users record new high during lunar New Year holiday — Xinhua — “About 768 million people used the service during the holiday, rising 10% compared with last year’s holiday… Someone from the east Chinese city of Nanchang was the luckiest user, receiving 3,429 red packets, while one generous user from west China’s Chongqing Municipality gave 2,723 red packets.”
Over 175 million Europeans ready to pay with wearable devices — Mastercard — “Overwhelming success of contactless cards peaks shopper demand for wearable payments… One quarter (24%) of Europeans expect to start using ‘tap and go’ contactless payments with a smartwatch, bracelet, keyring or other forms of wearable payments.”
IoTize joins STMicroelectronics partner program to boost plug’n’play solution that slashes time-to-market of IoT enable — STMicroelectronics/IoTize — PARTNER NEWS — “IoTize is introducing the solution in its first low-cost, turnkey IoT demonstrator module — the TapNLink Primer. This Primer will feature NFC connectivity based-on the ST25DV Dynamic Tag IC with 13.56MHz long-range interface and a Bluetooth Low Energy interface. The Primer will enable IoT proof-of-concept demonstrations in minutes by connecting any STM32-based system to a dedicated, provisioned, cloud environment using a smartphone as a network gateway.”
Now tap a Nol card on your Android phone to pay for parking — Gulf News — “The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) recently launched a smart service enabling smartphone users to recharge their parking accounts by using the near field communication (NFC) feature of Nol cards and the RTA Dubai app… Users have to download the RTA Dubai app and create an account. The users can then use the Nol card option to top up the e-parking purse available on the app, just by tapping. The system will then transfer the selected amount from the Nol card to the e-parking purse.”
Graphene on toast, anyone? — Rice University — “The Rice lab of chemist James Tour, which once turned Girl Scout cookies into graphene, is investigating ways to write graphene patterns onto food and other materials to quickly embed conductive identification tags and sensors into the products themselves… ‘This is not ink,’ Tour said. ‘This is taking the material itself and converting it into graphene.'”
Premier Romeo signs MOU to create a digital payments ecosystem in Montserrat — Government of Montserrat — “The people of Montserrat will benefit from increased financial inclusion, and a significant reduction in their need for cash to make payments for goods and services, or as a means of saving. Anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer, will now be able to conduct these domestic transactions securely, efficiently, digitally.”
Samsung Pay now available for Commonwealth Bank customers — Commonwealth Bank of Australia — “Commonwealth Bank customers will now have access to Samsung’s contactless payments platform, Samsung Pay… Today’s announcement follows CBA’s partnership with Google in November to offer Android Pay on compatible devices at almost 800,000 stores across Australia. CBA customers have also been able to make payments on the go with Fitbit and Garmin’s new payment-enabled smartwatches.”
Dejamobile is present at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona — Dejamobile — PARTNER NEWS — “With this project, Dejamobile intends to respond to the challenge of a real-time, fast and secure banking enrolment via smartphone… You will be able to discover a seamless customer journey from enrolment to the first mobile payment via the instant issuing of the payment card.”
Tinkoff Bank takes part in demonstrating a beta version of the Unified Biometrics System (UBS) — Tinkoff Bank — “Rostelecom, together with Tinkoff Bank, VTB Bank and Pochta Bank, has presented a beta version of its Unified Biometrics System (UBS), a digital platform developed at the request of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Bank of Russia. The beta version features all the key components to deliver basic human identification functionality and is ready to be integrated into the banks’ information systems… The commercial launch of the Unified Biometrics System is slated for 1 July 2018.”
Revealed: Cash eclipsed as Britain turns to digital payments — The Guardian — “Debit cards are set to overtake cash as the most frequently used payment method in the UK later this year… In 2006, 62% of all payments in the UK were made using cash; in 2016 the proportion had fallen to 40%. By 2026, it is predicted cash will be used for just 21%.”
Australian smartphone sales grow in 2017 as users lock into platforms — Telsyte — “The increasing adoption in mobile contactless payments is starting to influence Australian’s banking decisions… Around one in five (22%) iPhone users claim they are more likely to bank with a provider if it supports Apple Pay. This figure increases to 32% per cent for those who are also using an Apple Watch.”
Say hello to a better way to pay, by Google — Google — “Longtime Android Pay fans, fear not: the features you love aren’t going away. You’ll still get all your bank’s perks and protections, plus an extra layer of security, since Google Pay doesn’t share your actual card number when you pay in stores… And more features are coming. If you live in the US or the UK, you’ll be able to use it to send and request money within the next few months.”
NFC for consumables and accessories — NXP — PARTNER NEWS — “NFC is a great way to identify and authenticate consumables and accessories in industrial and consumer products. Using NFC helps to ensure that only genuine parts are being used and allows to make adjustments of device settings according to part manufacturer, type and end user preferences. Join us in this session to learn how you can develop your own NFC product authentication solution with NXP products using the NFC Nutshell Kit.”
Global proximity mobile payment users: eMarketer’s estimates for 2016–2021 — eMarketer — “In 2018, for the first time, more than one-third (34.9%) of smartphone users ages 14 and older will use a mobile phone to pay for a purchase at a physical point of sale (POS) at least once every six months… Adoption in parts of Western Europe has been held back by strong contactless card usage. Consumers appear less likely to tap and pay with their mobile phones when their credit and debit cards already offer a similar level of convenience.”