Two thirds of Australians are now aware they own a contactless payment card and 53% have made a contactless transaction, research released by RFi Group has revealed, taking the country to the top of a leaderboard for both contactless awareness and usage rates... More
The UAE Banks Federation has announced the completion of the pre-implementation phase of a project to develop a mobile wallet platform that all its 51 member banks will be able to use to offer P2P, mobile payments and loyalty programs to their customers... More
UAE-based Mashreq Bank is now offering its credit card customers a contactless payment sticker that can be attached to a mobile phone... More
Dubai residents will be able to pay taxi fares using a prepaid Smart Nol transit card stored on their NFC SIM from January 2014, the city’s Roads and Transport Authority has announced... More
Upmarket Dubai-based jewellery maker Amodoria has released a range of NFC-enabled items, including cufflinks and bracelets made with gemstones and gold and a premium leather wallet... More
Public transportation users will be able to use an NFC phone to purchase and store tickets for use on Dubai’s subway, buses and water bus services from next week, courtesy of a new service developed by the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA)... More
Residents of the United Arab Emirates will soon be able to renew their Emirates ID cards using just their NFC phone, Gulf News reports... More
Monitoring systems provider AVI Infosys has launched an Android NFC loyalty and payments app aimed at retailers in Dubai... More
A survey published by digital security specialist Gemalto has shown a high demand for contactless and NFC payments in Dubai, with 85% of those polled saying they would ‘like’ or ‘love’ to use their mobile handset as a contactless payment method and 72% seeing no obstacle at all when using mobile NFC... More
The Wafi shopping mall in Dubai is to introduce a new service that allows shoppers to collect and redeem loyalty points with their mobile phone using either NFC or Bluetooth... More
RTA, the Dubai roads and transport authority, has announced plans to introduce NFC ticketing across the emirate’s metro, bus and water bus services next year. More
The fast growing Sydney-based start-up already counts Coca Cola, RIM, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever amongst its clients and has just implemented a major new project for Australian carrier Telstra. 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
Nokia N9 NFC phone users in Dubai are being offered free cinema ticket and popcorn vouchers for tapping their phone on smart posters and display stands located in the foyer of selected Vox Cinemas... More
Gulf News reports further details of Etisalat’s NFC payments system, due to launch in the UAE before the end of 2011... More
Subscribers of UAE-based network Etisalat are set to be among the first in the world to make mobile payments on their BlackBerry NFC phones. More
News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Caen bids for NFC • Sprint adds mobile wallet • Vivotech’s Dubai deal • Microsoft tags retailers • Mobile payments boost banks • Paying cash keeps you slim • NCR buys into mobile barcodes More
A lack of commercially available handsets is continuing to cause frustration at Dubai-based mobile network operator Etisalat... More
Mobile network operators Du and Etisalat have had to put back their planned NFC commercial launches due to a lack of NFC phones, the operators have told Emirates Business 24|7. More
Mobile operator Du and card issuer Dubai First have begun distributing handsets to trial participants ahead of the launch in the next two weeks of the Middle East’s first NFC mobile payments pilot... More