“Our intention is that V.me will ultimately be able to incorporate any or all of our new payment technologies, allowing our members to deliver the best possible payments experience whether face-to-face, online or in a mobile environment,” says Visa Europe’s Mariano Dima. More
The pilot follows the announcement that New Zealand’s mobile network operators are to partner with the operator of the country’s debit card and ATM networks to introduce a central TSM platform. More
Amid on-going delays for the UK mobile network operators’ Project Oscar NFC joint venture, O2 has moved ahead with the launch of a mobile wallet that offers a suite of payments and marketing services to any mobile phone user, regardless of the carrier they get their mobile service from — with NFC to arrive later. More
US start-up Thinaire has launched an NFC marketing platform that “details location, occasion, brand, and social interaction so ROI can be determined, and then provides input for future one-to-one efforts”... More
Negotiations between Canada’s telecoms companies and banks are in the final stages and mobile network operator Rogers Communications expects to launch a mobile wallet service within six months, Reuters reports... More
“It’s still very early days for mobile payments and we know [it] will take time to build a mobile commerce ecosystem, but we’re very committed to this goal and are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to date,” says the search giant, as it makes unlocked Galaxy Nexus NFC phones available for US$399. More
The fast food giant has signed up to pilot test a new cloud-based NFC payments service developed by Austrian mobile network operator A1 and Paybox Bank. Supermarket chain Merkur will also participate in the trial. More
NFC and contactless chip specialist Inside Secure, which floated on the NYSE Euronext Paris exchange in February, has announced revenues of US$34m for the first quarter of 2012, down 12% on sales during the same period in 2011... More
The luxury car maker has worked with hotel key card specialist VingCard to develop a way for drivers to book a hotel room from their car, download their room key to an NFC-enabled car key and receive special offers available just to BMW drivers. More
The Turkish mobile network operator has combined its location-based service (LBS) platform with its NFC mobile wallet service to allow subscribers to receive special offers on their NFC phone when they are near a participating merchant — and then redeem an offer at the point-of-sale. More
The UK-based financial institution has announced two enhancements to its mobile payments offering, increasing the reach of the Quick Tap NFC service it runs with Orange and announcing plans to provide all its Visa credit card customers with a free mobile contactless sticker. More
Facebook has acquired Tagtile, a startup founded by two US-based graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), as it begins to roll out its Facebook Offers service... More
The online payments provider has partnered with Nokia to introduce an NFC service that allows users to transfer money and to make payments in bars, restaurants and stores. More
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the planned NFC joint venture between Everything Everywhere, Telefónica and Vodafone UK which will delay launch until after the London Olympics and casts doubts over the timetable for the introduction of similar projects in a number of other European countries. More
The Emirates Identity Authority is to work with mobile network operator Etisalat to develop a new version of the United Arab Emirates’ national ID card that will allow both UAE nationals and expatriates living in the country to store their ID on an NFC mobile phone. More
Students at the US university are using NFC-enabled mobile phones to gain access to dorms, academic buildings and administrative offices. More
The food company’s baby nutrition division in Singapore has released findings from a pilot project which has seen 400 NFC tags being placed in supermarkets, clinics and in homes to provide new mothers with information on a range of parenting and nutritional topics. More
NFC4Retail, which provides merchants with a suite of NFC apps designed to improve the in-store shopping experience, is now available in 21 countries. The service costs US$20 per store per month and is free of charge during an initial public beta period. More
Vodafone, 2degrees and Telecom New Zealand have partnered with the operator of the country’s debit card and ATM networks to introduce a central TSM platform that will allow the carriers to “continue to compete vigorously for customers by developing their own innovative services on top of the open platform infrastructure provided by the TSM”. More
Two of the twenty teams which took part in last weekend’s Isobar Create London NFC app development event have received kick-starter funding they will be able to use to turn their apps into commercial products. More