Poken has appointed audio visual hire specialist Smart AV as its exclusive UK partner... More
United Kingdom
Wireless goes contactless
Pop fans will be able to leave their wallets at home during a three day music festival in London in July... More
Visa and Samsung reveal Olympics NFC payments plans
The payments network and the phone maker will be issuing limited edition Samsung Galaxy S III handsets loaded with a Visa NFC payments app to athletes and other VIPs during the London 2012 Games. 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
O2 Wallet launches in the UK: NFC to be added “in time”
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
Barclaycard expands Quick Tap NFC service and offers PayTag stickers to Visa credit card holders
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
UK moves closer to NFC tickets
British government-backed transportation ticketing standards organisation Itso has certified Paragon RTD, a technology developed by Ecebs that lets consumers download and top up rail, bus and other public transportation tickets via smart cards and NFC phones... More
Skillweb adds NFC tracking
British mobile workforce and goods tracking specialist Skillweb has launched an NFC and QR code-based proof of attendance service... More
European regulators put brakes on UK NFC joint venture
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
London NFC hackathon winners get funding
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
FujiFilm adds NFC to photo printing kiosks
The imaging company’s new NFC module is designed to make it easy for consumers to order photos from in-store kiosks by simply selecting the images they want to print on their NFC device and then tapping it to the kiosk. More
UK NFC JV files with Brussels
The NFC joint venture between three UK mobile network operators has now filed for approval with the EU to go ahead with the scheme, code named ‘Project Oscar’, the Guardian reports, despite on-going objections from excluded carrier Three... More
Thirteen major brands sign up for UK NFC advertising campaign
Mercedes, EA Games, Universal, supermarket chain Morrison’s, fashion retailer H&M and a number of Unilever brands are amongst thirteen participants in a major new NFC outdoor advertising service which is now live at 325 locations around the town of Reading, UK. More
JCDecaux converts British town to NFC advertising
All the bus shelters and outdoor advertising sites as well as all the posters in the town of Reading’s main shopping centre are to be NFC-enabled from 5 March, making it the first to be blanketed with NFC advertising. More
Vodafone to roll out mobile payments with Visa
The telecoms giant, which has 400m customers in more than thirty countries, is working with Visa to introduce a global Vodafone Mobile Wallet. Subscribers in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the UK will be the first to get the new service, beginning this financial year. More
Orange UK announces Quick Tap treats for 200,000 NFC customers
Two hundred thousand UK customers have now been equipped with NFC phones they will be able to use to tap smart posters and receive special rewards, says the mobile network operator. More
UK NFC joint venture prepares to seek EU approval
The UK NFC joint venture announced last year by mobile network operators Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere is expected to seek the official go ahead for the scheme, dubbed Project Oscar, in the next two weeks, according to a report in The Telegraph... More
Firm finds NFC users interact more than QR code users
Only 1% of interactions with the French NFC specialist’s AdTag platform are conducted via an NFC phone, but NFC users account for 8% of all interactions, the company has found. More
RIM to launch UK NFC campaign
RIM is to run a series of marketing campaigns designed to educate UK consumers on the benefits of NFC during 2012... More
Xmas lights turned on with NFC
The Christmas lights in English university city and tech centre Cambridge have been officially switched on by a celebrity using an NFC phone, reports The Register... More