PARTNER NEWS: Chip maker AMS, one of two NFC IC suppliers to Apple, has introduced a development kit and software stack designed to make it easy to build NFC functionality into routers, set-top boxes, automotive infotainment systems, consumer electronics devices, home appliances and other NFC-enabled electronics products... More
The NFC Forum has added analog testing to its certification program, enabling device manufacturers to prove that their products are compliant with international radio frequency (RF) performance specifications for the first time... More
A teardown conducted by iFixit shows that Apple is using NFC chips from both NXP and AMS in the new iPhone 6, which began shipping today. The inclusion of an NXP chip was expected but the AMS chip is a surprise addition. More
Apple has joined GlobalPlatform, the organisation responsible for defining standards for the secure elements used to store sensitive data in NFC phones... More
Panasonic Avionics is to add NFC to the in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems it supplies to airlines, providing a way for passengers and crew to make contactless payments and for passengers to access a range of personalized travel benefits... More
Macy’s Inc, owner of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department store chains, has unveiled plans to implement a range of new technologies designed to provide an omnichannel shopping service to its customers... More
Subway restaurants across the US are to begin accepting NFC mobile payments on 1 October, using new POS terminals that carry branding from mobile network operator-owned commerce venture Softcard... More
As well as using the device to make payments with the new Apple Pay mobile payment service, Apple Watch wearers will be able to use their smartwatch as a boarding pass and to unlock their hotel room doors, Apple’s VP of Technology Kevin Lynch explained during the unveiling of the new device on 9 September... More
Videos of Apple staff demonstrating how Apple Pay will be used to make payments in stores and for in-app purchases have now been made available, providing further details of how the new mobile payments service will work... More
An innovative biosensor security function built into the Apple Watch and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will work in combination with NFC and tokenization to provide additional security to Apple Pay transactions, it is now becoming clear — giving Apple the ability to negotiate special deals with card issuers that will generate new revenues for the Cupertino company... More
MasterCard has announced US availability of a token platform that enables card issuers to store tokenized versions of their customers’ card details on Apple’s new NFC devices as well as NFC phones and tablets from a range of other manufacturers... More
Softcard, the US carrier-backed NFC venture formerly known as Isis, won’t have access to the NFC support in the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch until 2015, a blog post by CEO Michael Abbott suggests — and, even then, it looks as though it won’t be via a conventional NFC-enabled SIM... More
Visa Token Service, the payment network’s new platform that enables card account numbers to be replaced with digital tokens that ensure the cardholder’s actual card number is never shared with merchants, is now live and will be used to enable Visa cardholders to make use of Apple’s new NFC mobile payments service... More
An examination of the preview version of iOS 8 shows that there is currently no support in the operating system for NFC tag reading/writing and pairing, according to tag specialist RapidNFC. More
“It’s all about the wallet,” Apple CEO Tim Cook explained during the unveiling of Apple Pay mobile payments and the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch with NFC on 9 September... More
UPDATED The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will include support for NFC, Apple has announced. The NFC functionality will let users make Apple Pay mobile payments in stores. More
Chip maker NXP has published a 20-page guide to NFC and the Internet of Things (IoT) that is available for readers to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre... More
Apple has been steadily building a portfolio of patents related to NFC and mobile payments over recent years, from as far back as 2009. NFC World+ has reported on these as they have been published and links are provided here to details of 23 patents covering technical innovations and use cases in payments, mobile marketing, coupon delivery, gifting, event ticketing, content sharing, travel and beyond. More
Barclays is to provide its UK corporate banking customers with finger vein biometric authentication devices that will let them “easily access their online bank accounts and authorise payments within seconds, without the need for PIN, passwords or authentication codes.”... More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has unveiled a dynamic NFC chip that can be used by electronic device makers to let consumers use their mobile phone as a remote user interface “rather than relying on expensive touchscreens or WiFi connectivity for wireless data exchange on home electronics.”... More