UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is to pilot a mobile shopping app that allows customers to build a virtual basket of favourite products from anywhere before they visit a store, get directions when they arrive at the store to find the items in their virtual basket, scan selected items as they shop, and then check out and pay with their mobile phone... More
US fast food chain Dairy Queen has expanded pilot testing of its myDQ mobile loyalty, offers and payments service to more than sixty locations in the states of Colorado and Nebraska ahead of a planned rollout of the solution to all its 4,500 US franchise locations... More
MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson has outlined more of the consortium’s plans for its CurrentC mobile wallet in a keynote presentation at the Money2020 event in Las Vegas, confirming that banks will be able to add open loop payment cards to the service when it goes live in 2015... More
Dutch startup LoyaltyGrid has unveiled a solution that lets luxury brands use NFC tags embedded in product packaging to guarantee the authenticity of their products — and deliver rewards, discounts, exclusive content, invitations to special events and other incentives directly to their customers... More
Startup Tip.ly has launched Face Tips, a service that lets users tip service workers by simply taking a photo of the server’s face with a mobile phone. The recipient then has fourteen days to log in to the service using any camera-equipped device to submit their photo and bank details to safely collect their payment. More
Visa Europe has partnered with payment and transaction services provider Worldline to pilot NFC mobile payments using host card emulation (HCE) with four French banks in the first quarter of 2015... More
Singapore-based Watchdata Technologies has unveiled Sharkey, a wearable device that supports NFC payments and comes in two form factors — a smartwatch or a wristband... More
NFC World is six years old today and we are celebrating with a top 50,000 website ranking on Alexa.com, 129,493 unique visitors in October and a new rate card designed to make advertising on NFC World the single most effective way for mobile commerce suppliers to reach new customers in the year ahead... More
Almost 30% of all card-present transactions conducted globally between July 2013 and June 2014 used the EMV chip card standard, EMVCo has revealed, with the highest usage in Western Europe and the lowest in the United States... More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has launched a portfolio of NFC products designed to make it easier for car manufacturers to enable drivers and passengers to securely connect their mobile phone with a range of in-vehicle services... More
Starbucks is to begin accepting payments from customers wearing the new Microsoft Band smart bracelet... More
Burger King customers in the US will soon be able to order their meals ahead of arrival and pay for their orders using their mobile phone and a PayPal account... More
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), MasterCard and other Canadian issuing banks have begun pilot testing an NFC version of Nymi, a biometrically authenticated wristband that uses the wearer’s unique cardiac rhythm to verify their identity. More
Starbucks accounted for more than 90% of all mobile transactions in the US last year, the coffee chain’s CEO Howard Schultz has revealed during a fourth quarter earnings call in which he also set out plans to continue to dominate the mobile payments space. More
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has unveiled a mobile keyless entry system that will allow guests to use smartphones to unlock rooms using Bluetooth at 150 hotels around the globe by early 2015. The service will also be available via an Apple Watch app when the new wearable device ships next year, the hotel chain has told NFC World+. More
SK Planet has launched a new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) service in Korea that offers customers reward points and benefits directly on their mobile device whenever they enter a participating retail location. The BLE beacon-based solution is expected to be installed in more than 10,000 stores by next month. More
MCX is now open to supporting both NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy for payments and is in conversation with credit card issuers about opening up its CurrentC mobile wallet to payment cards, CEO Dekkers Davidson and COO Scott Rankin have told reporters... More
Ralph Lauren has taken over a 15-window display at luxury retail store Harrods in London to promote the launch of its new Polo Ralph Lauren collection using NFC and QR code stickers provided by proximity commerce specialist Proxama... More
Mobile payments will be a “great driver” for Visa, CEO Charles Scharf has told analysts during the company’s Q4 earnings call, and Apple Pay is just the beginning... More
US quick-service restaurant chain Taco Bell has launched a mobile ordering and payment app that lets customers place their orders through a customisable menu and complete a payment using a stored Taco Bell card, credit card or debit card before arriving at the counter... More