Customers at Foodcellar Market grocery stores in New York City in the US can now scan the items they wish to purchase with their smartphone and then pay for them from their mobile device before leaving the store... More
The European Union’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee has approved a proposed update to the European Digital Identity Framework that will enable the issuance and usage of the EU’s European Digital Identity Wallet and enable EU citizens to store digital identity credentials on their smartphone... More
Google has released a developer preview of its Android 14 update that includes support for a credential manager API that allows app developers to simplify the sign-in interface and authentication process for end-users by aggregating multiple sign-in options... More
Passengers travelling on flights operated by Qatar Airways can now transfer their flight details to a reusable electronic bag tag attached to luggage they have checked in via the airline’s mobile app by tapping their NFC smartphone on the device... More
Transport for Wales (TfW) has issued a tender inviting suppliers to propose and develop a national Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that will enable door-to-door journey planning and payments for bus, rail, coach and taxi fares as well as for bicycle and e-scooter hire, car sharing and demand-responsive transport schemes... More
The Bank of England and UK Treasury have launched a consultation on the design of the proposed digital pound and could roll out the central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the second half of the decade, according to bank and government officials... More
Consumers in Nepal can now make contactless NFC payments by tapping their smartphone on an NFC reader at the point of sale (POS) without needing an internet connection... More
Nearly eight in ten drivers in the Australian state of New South Wales now have a digital version of their driving licence stored on their smartphone that they can use in cases ranging from police checks to age verification in shops and bars and identity authentication when collecting postal deliveries, according to state minister Victor Dominello... More
India’s ICICI, IDFC First and Kotak Mahindra banks have begun enabling selected merchants to accept contactless in-store payments made using the retail version of the prototype digital rupee as part of the first phase of the Reserve Bank of India’s retail central bank digital currency pilot... More
Researchers in Japan have unveiled a system that allows users to communicate physical sensations and haptic information between devices and could enable contactless augmented interactions across a range of use cases including healthcare, sport, education and ecommerce... More
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics is to host a webinar on using NFC dynamic tags to simplify the process of adding new IoT devices to an existing network in smart homes and other smart buildings on 7 February... More
The number of credit cards issued via digital card issuance platforms worldwide will rise from 120m in 2023 to more than 320m by 2027, according to a Juniper Research forecast... More
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA have developed a system that enables blind and visually impaired people to securely access their mobile device by responding to a series of haptic vibrations... More
More than 50% of all payments made with physical or digital payment cards issued to customers of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) are now contactless, the bank reports... More
Passengers travelling on rail services in the Netherlands can now pay for full-fare second-class train fares with their physical or digital debit or credit card by tapping a reader at the beginning and end of their journey... More
The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has increased the limit for individual contactless transactions made without a PIN from 55 Jordanian dinars (US$77) to 100 Jordanian dinars (US$141) and doubled the country’s daily contactless limit from 150 Jordanian dinars (US$212) to 300 Jordanian dinars (US$423)... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering plans to develop a digital euro app that would enable consumers to use the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make contactless and QR code-based payments and “facilitate a standard approach to connecting end users to intermediaries” including banks and other payments processors... More
College students with a physical prepaid U-Pass SmarTrip transit card can now generate, store and use a digital version of it in Apple Wallet... More
Apple users with accounts at two Russian banks will soon be able to attach an NFC payment sticker to the back of their iPhone that enables them to make contactless payments for goods and services with their smartphone... More
Customers of Qatar National Bank (QNB) can now authenticate contactless payments for purchases at merchants in Qatar using their face and without needing to use a physical payment card or smartphone... More