A new loyalty platform for independent restaurants and cafés has begun pilot testing in Ottawa, Canada. Spoonity uses NFC tags to identify customers and NFC phones to administer points and rewards... More
Archive: News in brief
Samsung handsets get ICS
Google has started rolling out Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which adds Android Beam NFC functionality, as an over-the-air update for its Nexus S handsets... More
NFC POS demand growing
POS terminal supplier Verifone has entered “a must-have phase for chip-and-PIN almost everywhere around the globe,” CEO Douglas Bergeron told analysts during its fourth quarter earnings call, Bank Technology News reports... More
eAgile picks Avery tags
US-based RFID tag supplier eAgile is now offering a range of printed products including signs, business cards, and labels that incorporate Avery Dennison’s recently launched N-Zone NFC tags... 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
ABI forecasts NFC tag market
Smart posters and mobile marketing programmes have used more than half the NFC tags shipped to date and will account for 70% of shipments in 2016, according to a new report from ABI Research... More
35m NFC phones shipped in 2011
The number of NFC handsets shipped worldwide in 2011 will total 35 million, according to IMS Research... More
Isis reveals global ambitions
US NFC venture Isis is exploring the potential of expanding overseas, Bloomberg reports... More
Chevron to test Google Wallet
Six hundred Chevron gas stations in the US are to begin accepting Google Wallet payments and will “send out signage and other point-of-purchase (POP) material to stations before year’s end,” CSP Daily News reports... More
Taiwan gets NFC iPhone case
Taiwanese mobile network operator Chunghwa Telecom has teamed up with transportation card operator EasyCard, chip maker NXP, and MasterCard to launch an iPhone case that enables users to make NFC payments in stores and on public transport... More
No NFC in Windows Phone — yet
Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” does not support NFC, Microsoft has told NFC World... More
Woolworths goes contactless
Australian supermarket giant Woolworths is set to roll out 30,000 contactless payment terminals across more than 3,000 stores in 2012... More
Google Wallet on way to UK?
The UK will be the next country to get Google Wallet, following its US launch in October 2011, according to Les Echos... More
Tagage offers tag store app
NFC tag vendor Tagage has launched a mobile app that allows users to order custom NFC tags and stickers directly from their phones... More
Coles to go contactless
Australian grocery giant Coles is to upgrade its Ingenico point-of-sale terminals to support contactless payments, CNet Australia reports... More
Japanese ticket agency adds NFC
Japanese entertainment ticketing agency Boardwalk, whose shareholders include mobile network operator NTT Docomo, has announced plans to upgrade its system to support NFC... More
Snack machines go Google
US-based vending machine technology provider Cantaloupe Systems has equipped 6,000 units in San Francisco, Chicago and the mid-Atlantic region to accept Google Wallet, AllthingsD reports, while Chicago-based Mark Vend plans to convert half its 2,000 machines in the first half of 2012... More
Citi NFC lead jumps to LivingSocial
Dickson Chu, the high profile head of digital networks at Google Wallet financial services partner Citi, has left the banking group to head up a new merchant solutions division at local deals provider LivingSocial... More
Jordan begins move to NFC
MasterCard and several Jordanian banks are working on an NFC mobile payments system... More
Narian upgrades retail app
US NFC specialist Narian Technologies has released a new version of its Android-based NFC platform for retail... More