News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Austrian bus stops offer NFC updates • Caen gets NFC transit stops too • NFC tag store opens in Korea • Belgian museum offers NFC info • Gentag picks up patch patent • plus Clear2Pay, ITSO, TfL, FirstGroup, Google and more… More
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French carriers launch second NFC city
The Cityzi NFC mobile payments service will go live in the city of Strasbourg on 17 October. More
Monitise picks up mobile payments patent
The patent covers a way to enable shoppers to create and use a ‘virtual payment card’ so they can make payments in shops and online with their mobile phone without divulging their card details. More
Fruit Ninja to come with NFC
An NFC-enabled version of hit video game Fruit Ninja is to be pre-loaded on Nokia 701, Nokia 700 and Nokia 600 Symbian Belle NFC phones. More
Toppan Printing launches mini NFC tags
A new, small antenna developed by Toppan allows tags as compact as 10mm across to be read by NFC phones. More
One in three Canadians ready to use bank-issued mobile wallets
A new survey has found that a third of Canadians would use a mobile wallet if it was provided to them by their bank — but there is less interest in mobile wallets provided by other potential types of issuer. More
Neotion and Alcineo add NFC to pay TV
The NFC CAM allows pay TV providers to give subscribers the ability to transfer content securely from TVs to NFC phones, tablets and other screens, without the risk of piracy or copyright theft. The system can also be used to provide advertisers with a way to issue coupons to viewers. More
Yale unveils NFC door locks
Lock maker Yale has developed an NFC version of its domestic keyless entry system and says it expects to be the first US brand to put residential NFC-operated locks on the market. More
Harman to add NFC to car audio
The vehicle audio and entertainment giant is to add NFC to future products, enabling drivers to interact with their in-car systems, play phone calls over car speakers, interface with diagnostics systems and more. More
EU invests €3.41m in project to make self-service terminals more accessible
The APSIS4All project plans to use cutting edge technologies including NFC to make it easier for the elderly and the disabled to make use of ticket vending machines, public information kiosks, cash dispensers and other self-service terminals. More
PragmatIC demonstrates NFC label with built-in display
The flexible labels don’t need a battery and automatically light up or display information when they are read by an NFC phone. More
Rogers Wireless applies for Canadian banking license
The mobile network operator says it doesn’t plan to become a bank but it is “actively looking at the mobile payment category” and has applied for the license in order to “pursue a niche credit card opportunity”. More
Three: UK mobile operators’ NFC joint venture “raises serious competition concerns”
“Competition authorities in Brussels should not allow this type [of] collaboration to go forward under any circumstances,” says Three, which was not invited to be part of the UK project. “We’re asking the Commission to take a clear view of what is at stake for consumers and the dangerous precedent this move could set across Europe.” More
STMicro shows potential of NFC in electronic devices
The chip maker has released an Android app that shows how NFC phones can be used in conjunction with its M24LR64 wireless memory chip to interact with a wide range of electronic devices including consumer electronics, smart meters, home appliances and portable healthcare devices. More
Isobar to host NFC hackathon
The digital marketing agency is inviting developers, programmers and hackers to take part in a 48-hour NFC ‘hackathon’ in Boston later this month. More
50,000 Dutch nurses now using NFC phones
The nurses use their NFC phones to track and manage home healthcare visits, in one of the world’s longest established commercial NFC services. More
Contactless convenience begins to win over UK consumers
A survey of British consumers’ attitudes to contactless payment has found that 90% of users say it makes life simpler and 85% would recommend the technology to friends and family. More
HID Global launches next-generation NFC access control system
The iClass SE system “provides a standards-based platform for implementing exciting new applications for NFC-enabled mobile phones,” says the employee ID card specialist. More
Samsung announces two Bada NFC smartphones
The Wave M and Wave Y smartphones include Samsung’s new ChatOn messaging service and come with NFC as an option. More
Nokia: Symbian NFC phones to support mobile payments in 2012
Nokia’s recently announced 700, 701 and 600 handsets — as well as the existing C7 — will be able to support secure NFC services from the first half of 2012, the company has told NFC World. All future Symbian smartphones will also support NFC. More