MasterPass covers in-store and online payments, supports both NFC and QR codes and enables “banks, merchants and partners” to offer their own wallets to consumers. More
France
Orange offers NFC prizes
France-based mobile network operator Orange has launched the Orange NFC Awards, a competition for NFC application developers with a total of €40,000 (US$53,448) in prize money, plus a further €5,000 bonus for developers who make use of SIM-based NFC security in their app... More
Caen to get NFC tickets
Public transportation users in the French city of Caen will be able to use NFC phones to pay for their bus and tram tickets from June 2013... More
AFSCM reports 2.5m Cityzi NFC phones in France
There are now 2.5m NFC-enabled phones that work with the French mobile network operators’ Cityzi NFC platform in circulation, up from 1m in mid-2012, reports trade association AFSCM... More
Auchan picks mobile barcodes for France’s MCX
“Our goal is to create the m-payment standard within the retail sector, independent of any telephone operators and banks,” says the head of Flash’n Pay, a new mobile wallet brand that has been created by one of the country’s largest grocery retailers and is set to go head to head with the French carriers’ NFC-based Cityzi service. More
GoMcDo to add NFC
The GoMcDo mobile ordering system offered by McDonald’s France is to get NFC support “very soon”, says solution provider Airtag... More
1,500 French restaurants get NFC customer review stickers
1,553 restaurants in 133 towns across France, voted by users of restaurant reviews site Cityvox as their favourites throughout the country, are being provided with interactive window stickers that let diners access Cityvox customer reviews via their NFC phone... More
French carers to use NFC
A public authority consortium led by Docapost BPO, a division of France’s postal service La Poste, is to equip caregivers with NFC phones for use when making home care visits... More
Orange adds contactless top-ups
Orange France has partnered with POS maker Ingenico to enable prepaid customers to top up their accounts in stores via contactless stickers and key rings... More
French carrier SFR to issue own-brand card in move towards NFC payments
Mobile network operator SFR has launched France’s first rechargeable MasterCard PayPass card, in a first step towards issuing its own NFC mobile payment service... More
Orange France to stock 20 NFC phones by year end
Close to 50% of the mobile phones stocked by Orange France will be equipped with NFC functionality by the end of 2012, Thierry Millet, the carrier’s VP of mobile payments and NFC, has told attendees at the NFC World Congress in Nice... More
French carriers pick Adelya for mobile loyalty wallet
“The Cityzi Fid wallet brings together all the loyalty and coupon offers of your favorite stores directly on a Cityzi phone, simplifying the way you shop as you say goodbye to a bulging wallet full of cards,” the NFC loyalty specialist says. More
Casino to open world’s first NFC-enabled supermarket
Shoppers at the French supermarket chain’s Les Belles Feuilles branch in Paris will be able to use shelf-edge labels equipped with NFC tags to obtain details of each of 25,000 products on offer, scan items into their basket and then checkout by simply tapping their NFC phone to a reader attached to the retailer’s cash register. More
Fast food outlet adds NFC
Paris-based Mexican fast food restaurant Chido has put in Airtag’s Airfid NFC-compatible customer loyalty programme... More
Orange France rolls out NFC SIMs
Orange France is to issue NFC SIMs to all its 27m subscribers, making it the first carrier in Europe to deploy NFC-enabled SIM cards nationally... More
Cityzi hits 1m NFC phones
French mobile network operators Orange, Bouygues Télécom, SFR and NRJ Mobile have announced that more than one million Cityzi NFC phones have now been sold... More
Toulouse-Blagnac Airport to test NFC check-ins
“With NFC technology, the mobile phone simplifies the passage of the flyer through the airport,” says the CEO of the first airport in the world to pilot the use of NFC phones to improve the airline passenger experience. More
Carrefour uses NFC and QR codes to speed up grocery shopping
The French retail giant’s convenience store chain has launched ‘Mon Panier’, a mobile app that lets customers order and pay for their grocery shopping with their mobile phone — and then identify themselves via an NFC and QR-code enabled kiosk when they arrive at the store to collect their order. More
Visa to launch V.me digital wallet in UK, France and Spain
“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
NFC goes local in Strasbourg
A public information service accessed via NFC tags and QR codes is now available in Strasbourg, France... More