“We will be a leader in connecting you to your internet of things,” says CEO Thorsten Heins as the Z10 touchscreen BlackBerry 10 phone and Q10 Qwerty phone are announced with NFC. More
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Telefonica rolls out NFC payments in the Czech Republic
Customers with an NFC phone can now sign up at any GE Money Bank branch to begin making mobile payments. More
Google Wallet gets a makeover
A new version of Google’s mobile wallet app has been released, with a new look user interface and improvements to application stability and battery usage. More
HTC unveils NFC remote control for Butterfly smartphone
The HTC Mini “provides a whole new way of human-computer interaction” says the phone maker, enabling users to make calls, text and access stored media with the tiny device while keeping their smartphone in their pocket. More
Taiwan TSM plans face opposition
The decision, taken yesterday by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission, to grant conditional approval for Taiwan’s five carriers and transit card issuer EasyCard to set up a national TSM joint venture for NFC payments and ticketing has not been universally welcomed... More
Samsung tests NFC window shopping in Amsterdam
The phone maker has teamed up with Dutch ecommerce merchant JeansOnline to make exclusive offers to Samsung phone owners who tap a TecTiles tag or scan a QR code at a pop-up store in the city centre. More
Taiwan TSM project gets approval
Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission has given the go-ahead for transportation card issuer EasyCard and the country’s five carriers to form a joint venture company to deliver NFC payments and ticketing services — provided the partners comply with a number of conditions designed to ensure a competitive environment is maintained. More
RIM picks Bell ID for NFC token management
“We selected Bell ID for their broad experience within multiple vertical markets and proven technical ability to manage infrastructure complexity,” says Andrew Bocking, senior vice president of software product management at RIM. More
Telefónica O2 to begin beta testing NFC payments in Germany
“Soon, children will only know from history books what a wallet and hard cash are,” says René Schuster, CEO of Telefónica Germany, as the carrier prepares to make NFC payments available to customers from next month. More
Visa Europe forecasts breakout year for NFC
“The year ahead will see us putting mobile contactless payments into consumers’ hands and introducing digital wallets on a mass scale,” says Peter Ayliffe, chief executive of Visa Europe, as the payments network predicts there will be 40 mobile contactless payments issuers in Europe in 2013. More
US Bank launches iPhone NFC payments service
Customers in Salt Lake City and Portland are being invited to beta test the bank’s new Go Mobile payments service, using an iPhone NFC case that stores a FlexPerks Visa credit card, ahead of a broader launch this year. More
South Downs Way gets NFC sign posts
“There are fascinating landscapes across the National Park where it’s just not appropriate to put up large display panels,” says the trail officer for the 100-mile walking route across the south of England. “By ‘tapping in’ to these small signs smartphone users will be able to discover all sorts of information about the land they’re walking through.” More
Panasonic launches Lumix compact cameras with NFC
The new Lumix ZS30 and TS5 cameras include both Wi-Fi and NFC “to provide the widest range of remote shooting options, remote viewing and instant sharing on social networks.” More
Airline, WiFi and testing groups sign collaboration agreements with the NFC Forum
“These new agreements with Global Certification Forum (GCF), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the Wi-Fi Alliance will expedite the availability and use of more globally interoperable NFC-enabled solutions,” says Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum. More
Sony pushes NFC at CES with “One-touch” mobile phones, TVs, headsets, speakers and more
Sony has unveiled a range of new devices with NFC capabilities at the CES show in Las Vegas and says it now has the largest range of NFC-enabled devices on the market. NFC is “the easiest and fastest way to wirelessly connect and enjoy music, photos and videos from a smartphone,” the company says. More
Hyundai shows off NFC car key concept
The car maker’s Connectivity Concept enables an NFC phone to be used to lock and unlock a vehicle and also sync data, content and preferences stored on the driver’s mobile phone with the car’s infotainment system. More
Tapit raises US$2.4m Series A to grow NFC platform
The Sydney-based NFC specialist is to use the funds to expand internationally, adding a local presence in South Africa, Israel, India, Mexico, the US, UK, Sweden, Japan, Vietnam, UAE, Singapore and, potentially, China. More
ARM, Gemalto and G&D introduce alternative to NFC secure elements
Trustonic, a joint venture set up by the three companies, will provide TSMs and service providers with the key to their own secure area within a trusted execution environment on an ARM processor, in exchange for a one-off fee, providing an alternative to secure element chips for applications requiring low- to mid-range security. More
Orange and China Mobile sign NFC development deal
“By working together with China Mobile, we hope to show that the development of a SIM-card based approach using recognized standards will be a key factor in winning over consumer confidence as NFC services become more and more prevalent over the coming years,” says Orange’s Thierry Millet. More
China Mobile and Bank of China pick Verifone for NFC marketing and payments
The Chinese carrier and bank will be using VeriFone’s Paymedia Mobile Marketing Platform to enable merchants, brands and third parties to deploy targeted campaigns to NFC mobile wallet users in the city of Shen Yang. More