Upmarket UK department store chain John Lewis has chosen iBeacon, smart label and in-store digital engagement start-up firms to join JLAB, its first technology business incubator... More
- CWC sessions you may have missed: Transdev, Smart Payment Association, European Central Bank
- Transdev reports on hands-free transport ticketing pilot
- Smart Payment Association reports on new instant payments model that leverages existing bank card, merchant terminal and banking infrastructure
- European Central Bank reports on digital euro for Contactless World Congress
- Linxens reports on the market outlook for biometric cards, display cards, dynamic CVVs, sustainable substrates and more
Burger chain gets mobile payments
Customers of Finnish hamburger chain Hesburger can today pay for food, connect their loyalty card and redeem offers using Swedish mobile wallet app SEQR... More
Walmart turns digital receipts into shopping opportunities
The retail giant is introducing a digital receipt service across its 4,200 US stores, enabling shoppers to store a digital version of their receipt in a mobile app by scanning a QR code on their paper receipt or by entering their mobile number at the point of sale. Customers will then be able to use the receipts to create a shopping list on their device, making the in-store experience “easier and more convenient”. More
Payments Council outlines expansion plans for Paym mobile payments platform
More than 500,000 UK bank account holders have signed up for Paym mobile payments since its launch last month, the Payments Council reports, and the organisation is now looking at adding additional proxies to the service, such as email addresses and driving license numbers, as well as making Paym available for other types of payment requests and international transfers. More
Groupon lets merchants redeem vouchers via BLE
Prepaid voucher provider Groupon has launched an iPad-based point-of-sale terminal that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to let merchants “instantly recognize their Groupon customers as they enter their business, seamlessly redeem Groupons and save time and money.” More
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Yoyo raises US$5m for mobile payments at universities
UK-based mobile payments, loyalty and rewards startup Yoyo has raised US$5m to expand its service. The move follows a launch at the Imperial College London campus in January 2014, with further rollouts due to take place at London’s University of Westminster and University of Greenwich. More
Tim Hortons rolls out mobile barcode payments across Canada and USA
Canada-based coffee chain Tim Hortons has expanded its mobile payments service, first launched using host card emulation (HCE) technology in December 2013, with the introduction of barcode-based mobile payments across its outlets in the USA and Canada. More
McDonald’s launches Quick Mac mobile payments in Austria
McDonald’s Austria is rolling out a new mobile ordering and payments service that lets users place their orders on their mobile device and pay using PayPal, a credit card or a stored value Paybox account. More
Standard Bank rolls out mobile payments to 10,000 merchants in South Africa
Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups, has launched a service that allows small merchants to accept mobile payments by simply placing a QR code at their point of sale, with no POS terminal required. More
Telstra uses NFC to cut costs and improve customer service for broadband users
Australian telecommunications provider Telstra is now applying NFC tags to all its broadband modems, enabling customers to access personalised help, information and support recommendations by tapping the tag with their NFC phone. More
Total gas stations offer mobile payments in Uganda
Customers at 45 Total gas stations in Uganda can now use their Airtel Money account to pay for fuel and services as well as make in-store purchases with their mobile phone. The service is to be rolled out across all 125 Total stations in the country in the coming weeks. More
Morgan Stanley predicts Apple will include NFC in iPhone 6 — and NXP will supply the controller chips
“We see growing evidence Apple will adopt NFC as a core part of its mobile payments strategy,” a new report from investment firm Morgan Stanley says — and evidence suggests that NXP has already won the contract to supply NFC controller chips for the iPhone 6. More
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Sberbank to launch HCE payments in Russia
Russia’s Sberbank, Europe’s third largest bank with more than 100million customers, has begun piloting NFC payments in Moscow using embedded secure elements. It will follow the trial with a service using host card emulation (HCE) later this year. More
Juniper predicts 1.5bn mobile wallets in 2018
There will be more than 1.5billion mobile wallets in use around the world by 2018, according to a new forecast from Juniper Research, representing one in five handsets and up from one in 10 at the end of 2013. More
London taxi firm promotes app downloads with NFC and QR stickers
Radio Taxis, one of London’s biggest taxi operators, is promoting downloads of its mobile app by placing NFC and QR code stickers in its 2,500 vehicles. More
US sports venues to get interactive displays
Sports venue display provider Access Sports Media is to use Blue Bite’s mTag platform to add NFC, QR, SMS and geofencing capabilities to its more than 20,000 displays in 200 US sports venues. More
Slovakia gets NFC payments
Deutsche Telekom’s MyWallet NFC platform is now available to customers of Slovak Telekom, a Slovakian carrier majority owned by Deutsche Telekom... More
Adafruit publishes NFC wearables DIY guide
Electronics hobby supplier Adafruit Industries has posted a DIY guide to creating wearable NFC devices that can be used to unlock an Android phone... More
PayPal tests beacons
PayPal Beacon, a mobile payment service that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to let shoppers make “hands free” payments, is now undergoing pilot testing in Palo Alto... More
Safaricom reports on merchant adoption of mobile money at the point of sale
Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom has now signed up 122,000 merchants for Lipa na M-Pesa, a service launched in June 2013 that enables Kenyan consumers to use the funds stored in their M-Pesa mobile money account to pay for goods in stores. More