Dutch startup LoyaltyGrid has unveiled a solution that lets luxury brands use NFC tags embedded in product packaging to guarantee the authenticity of their products — and deliver rewards, discounts, exclusive content, invitations to special events and other incentives directly to their customers... More
Australia’s ANZ is to launch an NFC-enabled mobile wallet in early 2015, following a successful trial of the service... More
Finnish mobile wallet Pivo has now been downloaded to 300,000 smartphones and a third of users — more than 100,000 — are making use of the app every day... More
Startup Tip.ly has launched Face Tips, a service that lets users tip service workers by simply taking a photo of the server’s face with a mobile phone. The recipient then has fourteen days to log in to the service using any camera-equipped device to submit their photo and bank details to safely collect their payment. More
Just 4% of independent business owners in the US are aware they have a contactless POS terminal and 14% are not sure, Newtek Business Services’ latest SBA Market Sentiment Survey has revealed — and only 7% say they plan to upgrade so they can make contactless NFC payments like Apple Pay available to their customers, while 93% say they have no plans to do so... More
Visa Europe has partnered with payment and transaction services provider Worldline to pilot NFC mobile payments using host card emulation (HCE) with four French banks in the first quarter of 2015... More
Singapore-based Watchdata Technologies has unveiled Sharkey, a wearable device that supports NFC payments and comes in two form factors — a smartwatch or a wristband... More
Windows Phone users with AT&T in the US can now make NFC payments by downloading a new Softcard app from the Windows Phone Store... More
There will be 604m users of wearable biometric technology globally by 2019, a new report from Goode Intelligence forecasts... More
Semble, the NFC payments joint venture between New Zealand’s carriers and the Paymark payments network, has begun testing its NFC mobile payment solution with 250 of the company’s shareholders and stakeholders in Auckland and Wellington... More
Almost 30% of all card-present transactions conducted globally between July 2013 and June 2014 used the EMV chip card standard, EMVCo has revealed, with the highest usage in Western Europe and the lowest in the United States... More
Bitcoin payment gateway BitPay is to roll out a point-of-sale app to “every mobile market worldwide” that makes it possible for merchants to process Bitcoin payments via NFC... More
Chase Paymentech and Vantiv, two of the largest payment processors in the US, have signed up to distribute the former head of Google Wallet’s new Poynt POS terminal to their merchant bases... More
Starbucks is to begin accepting payments from customers wearing the new Microsoft Band smart bracelet... More
MCX member Target has integrated Apple Pay into its mobile app but is not accepting payments via Apple Pay in its stores, the retailer has told NFC World+... More
A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that police officers cannot force criminal suspects to divulge mobile phone passwords but they can force them to unlock their phone with a fingerprint scanner, WSJ reports... More
The NFC mobile wallet solution developed by mobile network operator Telenor and banking group DNB has launched nationwide across Norway... More
Burger King customers in the US will soon be able to order their meals ahead of arrival and pay for their orders using their mobile phone and a PayPal account... More
Toronto-based in-store marketing specialist Aislelabs has published an online comparison examining Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon hardware from 16 different vendors including Estimote, Kontakt and Gimbal... More
40% of US and Canadian consumers have now used their smartphone to make a payment at a merchant location, up from 16% two years ago, according to Accenture’s 2014 North America Consumer Payments Survey... More