Apple has been granted a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for an authentication system to allow owners to unlock content on their devices by taking a picture of their face... More
Archive: News in brief
Singapore to trial contactless payments for transport
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport and Land Transport Authority (LTA) will trial contactless payments using devices including wristbands later this year... More
23 more US banks add Apple Pay
Apple has added an additional 23 banks and credit unions to the list of financial institutions that support Apple Pay in the US... More
Mercedes E-Class to get secure NFC keys
Mercedes-Benz’s upcoming W213 E-Class car will come equipped with NFC to allow keyless entry and starting... More
Samsung Pay enters beta testing
Korean credit card firm Samsung Card is recruiting beta testers for Samsung Pay to pilot the mobile payments service in “various major offline member stores” from July 15 to August 20, Korea Bizwire reports... More
One in four think UK will be cashless in 10 years
Nearly one in four UK consumers (23%) think the country will become a cashless society within 10 years, research from Equifax and Gorkana Surveys reveals... More
Macau shops to get Alipay mobile payments upgrade
Shops and restaurants in Macau which accept the Macau Pass contactless card can now apply to upgrade their terminals to enable support for Alipay mobile payments and China UnionPay Quick Pass cards... More
Barclaycard offers 50% off bPay wearables
Barclaycard is offering 50% off its second generation bPay contactless wearables during July via an online code that can be redeemed from its website... More
MyOrder to add HCE virtual cards for in-store payments
Dutch mobile order and payment provider MyOrder is to add virtual cards based on host card emulation (HCE) issued by German payments technology provider Wirecard to its app later this year, which will let users make in-store payments at any terminal that accepts Maestro contactless... More
Famoco raises €4m in financing round
French NFC device maker Famoco has secured €4m in a financing round led by Hi Inov... More
Fingerprint sensor market to grow at 17% CAGR
The fingerprint sensor market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% between 2015 and 2020, research from MarketsandMarkets has found, with its value projected to reach US$14.5bn by 2020 from $5.5bn in 2014... More
McDonald’s to pilot mobile order and pay in China
McDonald’s is to begin piloting a mobile ordering and payment service in China in the third quarter of this year, with the aim of speeding payments and to meet consumer demand... More
Apple Pay UK launch set for July 14?
Apple is reportedly planning to launch Apple Pay in the UK on July 14... More
Next iPhone to get NFC upgrade?
Pictures of a circuit board believed to be part of the next iPhone show the device includes a different NFC chip from NXP... More
Ant Financial valued at US$45bn
Chinese e-commerce giant Ant Financial has completed a Series A financing round that values the company at more than US$45bn and makes the Chinese government a stakeholder, New York Times reports... More
ING adds biometrics to mobile banking app payments
Users of ING’s mobile banking app in the Netherlands can now use their voice or a fingerprint to authorise payments... More
38% of Americans back biometrics
More than a third (38%) of Americans believe biometrics will increase their smartphone security, while 25% are skeptical and 37% don’t know, research from Unisys Security Insights finds... More
Apple files P2P via NFC patent
Apple has filed a US patent application for a payments service that would enable peer-to-peer money transfers via NFC and Bluetooth... More
Koreans claim Apple Pay talks
Apple has reportedly held meetings with Korean financial institutions, including Hana Financial Group, as it looks to launch Apple Pay in the country... More
Cab:app taxis to accept NFC mobile payments
More than 7,600 taxi drivers in 90 cities across the UK and Ireland can accept NFC mobile payments from passengers using the taxi-hailing app Cab:app through an mPOS gateway provided by Payworks... More