GymKit continues global expansion with new announcement from Life Fitness — 9to5Mac — “Earlier today, Technogym announced that it has deployed some 5,000 GymKit-enabled cardio machines since November. Following that announcement, Life Fitness announced this evening that it is expanding its rollout of GymKit equipment around the world… Life Fitness says that its Fitness IFC location in Hong Kong and Anytime Fitness Japan’s Ebisu location in Tokyo will be the first locations to add the new machinery, with other locations following as time progresses.”
Archive for March 2018
Macy’s brings mobile self-checkout to department stores
Macy’s to add mobile checkout to all stores by year’s end — CNBC — “The platform allows shoppers to scan barcodes on items (apparel, home goods, etc) with their phones, as they add merchandise to their baskets in stores. Relevant discounts and rewards will also be applied, via a shopper’s loyalty account, throughout. When customers are finished shopping, they will head to a special counter for mobile checkout, where an associate will remove security tags and make sure the number of items scanned adds up to those paid for. Then, they’re ready to go.”
BBVA bank staff to test face recognition for self-serve restaurant orders and payments
BBVA launches its ‘invisible payments’ strategy — BBVA — “BBVA is already working on developing a facial recognition system to allow users to pick up their food and sit down directly, without needing to make a manual payment, or for anyone to check the user’s identity… The system uses machine learning algorithms through which the machines ‘learn’ to identify both the faces of users and products on the tray in order to make the correct charge on their card.”
Carriers in Singapore, India, Thailand and the Philippines to link their mobile wallet services
Singtel to launch mobile wallet tie-up with regional associates — The Straits Times — “The Singtel Group plans to roll out mobile wallet interoperability across its network of regional associates in Asia by mid-2018… Mobile wallet customers of Singtel and the group’s various associate telcos would then be able to make cashless payments in their home currency, using their home telco’s app, at physical merchants while abroad… Singtel’s goal is to bring the Philippines’ Globe, Indonesia’s Telkomsel and India’s Airtel on board from the second half of 2018 onwards, pending regulatory approval. Regulators have already given the green light for the partnership between Singtel’s Dash payments app and Thai counterpart myAIS.”
Huawei to launch mobile payments in 100 countries this year
Huawei Music, cloud services coming to SA — Tech Central — “The plan is to expand coverage outside China to 60 countries (including South Africa) by June and to 100 countries by the end of the year… Local banks that Huawei is talking to with the hope of integrating the service include Nedbank and First National Bank.”
Church of England rolls out contactless donations to 16,000 churches, cathedrals and religious sites
Church of England brings cashless transactions to its congregations — Church of England — “Over 16,000 churches, cathedrals, and religious sites will now have access to portable card readers through the Church of England’s Parish Buying portal through a partnership with SumUp and iZettle. The readers will be used to take contactless payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as chip & pin… Technology facilitating charitable donations on a self-service basis, including passing around a reader for the collection, continues to be trialled and is expected to be launched in phase two of the project.”
Auchan lets Italian supermarket shoppers scan and pay on their mobile phone
Auchan launches mobile payment app In Italy — European Supermarket Magazine — “Through the use of the AuchanSpeedy app, customers can scan products in-store and pay for them on their phone. The service, available to the members of the retailer’s customer loyalty programme LaTua!, is in addition to the traditional and self-checkout systems, and aims to provide more payment solutions for shoppers.”
Google Pay adds support for Mifare public transportation tickets
NXP’s Mifare 2Go and Google Pay transform public transportation — NXP — PARTNER NEWS — “Combining Google Pay with the security, flexibility and scalability of Mifare products, this solution serves as a catalyst for the mobile transit experience, as it will be available for any consumer equipped with widely-available Android phones that support Near Field Communication (NFC)… The first deployment of this solution went live today with the Las Vegas Monorail.”
Seven watch brands to embed Barclaycard’s bPay wearable payments in their devices
Guess, Mondaine, Timex, Kronaby, Suunto, Adexe and LBS have all signed deals with Barclaycard to embed the card issuer’s bPay wearable payments technology “in a variety of timepieces, sports trackers and watch straps.”... More
UnionPay sets out its mobile payments rollout plans
UnionPay International launches mobile payment service platform to accelerate rolling out of its mobile payment worldwide — UnionPay — “UnionPay International will introduce Huawei Pay to the global markets this year, and Russia is expected to be the first country outside mainland China where Huawei Pay will be launched. In addition, UnionPay QR code payment will be available in Tajikistan, Japan, Cambodia and Suriname this year… UnionPay International is working with major institutions in Hong Kong, Kenya, and Nepal in jointly developing the international version of the UnionPay app.”
Google expands support for wearable payments to Canada, Spain, and Australia
Google Pay on Wear OS officially spreads to three new countries — Android Police — “In addition to using NFC-equipped watches to make regular mobile payments, users in Australia can use their Wear OS devices with the Opal ticketing system to pay for single-trip tickets on select rail and ferry lines… Formerly, Google’s payment service was only supported on Android Wear (now Wear OS) devices in the US and the UK.”
American Express files faster blockchain payments patent
Systems and methods for blockchain based payment networks — USPTO — “A system, method, and computer readable medium (collectively, the ‘system’) is disclosed for a payment network using a blockchain-based ledger that is configured to execute payment transactions in response to blockchain requests… In various embodiments, the system may assess a risk associated with the transaction. The system may also approve the transaction in response to the risk associated with the transaction being acceptable. The system may also transmit a notification (eg a push notification) to the payee digital wallet that the transaction was successful.”
Crédit Agricole expands HCE payments to Visa cardholders
PARTNER NEWS: Crédit Agricole has added support for Visa cards to its HCE mobile payments service, enabling both Mastercard and Visa cardholders to make use of its Ma Carte application and Paylib, the French interbank payment brand, for the first time... More
Android P to include support for GlobalPlatform Open Mobile API
Previewing Android P — Google — “Android P adds an implementation of the GlobalPlatform Open Mobile API [OMAPI] to Android. On supported devices, apps can use the OMAPI API to access secure elements (SE) to enable smart card payments and other secure services. A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) provides the underlying API for enumerating a variety of secure elements (eSE, UICC, and others) available.”
Google to let users send money directly from their Google Contacts app?
Google Contacts adds ability to send money via Google Pay Send — Android Police — “Back in November, Google added money transfers to Android Messages via Google Wallet (now known as Google Pay Send). We noticed some strings in our teardown of the Google Contacts app last week that suggested the same addition would be coming soon, and it’s now hit at least one reader in Canada.”
Samsung Pay to launch in France ‘before the summer’
Groupe BPCE to become the first banking group to launch Samsung Pay in France for Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne customers — Groupe BPCE — “Groupe BPCE is announcing the launch in France of the Samsung Pay mobile payment solution, before the summer and on an exclusive basis, for Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne customers equipped with compatible Samsung smartphones… Customers will be able to make purchases with their smartphones wherever contactless Visa payments are accepted. Holders of the Apetiz meal voucher card will also soon be able to pay for their lunches directly with the Samsung smartphones.”
Capital One lets cardholders create virtual card numbers in their browser
Capital One’s shopping assistant Eno can now dole out virtual card numbers in the browser — Techcrunch — “Capital One’s card numbers let you pay without needing to use (or even locate) your credit card account information, once the extension is set up and configured. The extension instantly creates virtual card numbers when you go to a site’s checkout page… The Eno extension will also auto-fill your payment information on the checkout page, and reappear when you return to the same site.”
PCI updates payment device standard to support PIN entry on mobile phones and tablets
PCI Security Standards Council updates payment device standard to support software-based PIN entry on COTS — PCI Security Standards Council — “The updated device standard supports the development of PCI software-based PIN entry on COTS (SPoC) solutions for merchants that enable EMV contact and contactless transactions with PIN entry on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices, such as tablets and smartphones.”
Kakao Pay reports 1m users of its blockchain-based mobile identity service
Kakao Pay’s blockchain-based authentication boasts 1m users — Yonhap News — “Users of KakaoTalk, South Korea’s top mobile messenger, can use the authentication service on the mobile messenger without having to download an application. A total of 20 institutions and companies, including insurer AIA Life Korea and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, use the service, Kakao Pay said, adding that it plans to expand the service.”
Fitbit includes payments on special edition of new Versa smartwatch
Fitbit introduces Fitbit Versa, the smartwatch for all — Fitbit — “Leave your wallet at home and easily pay in any store where contactless payments are accepted… Now available with Fitbit Pay on Fitbit Versa Special Edition products; supported by nearly 40 banks in 14 countries, through eligible US American Express, Mastercard and Visa cards, with more countries and banks rolling out in 2018.”