Transport for London (TfL) is testing the use of Bluetooth beacons that work with a mobile app to provide guidance to visually impaired passengers travelling on the London Underground... More
Archive: News in brief
SXSW to deploy 1,000 beacons
The organizers of the annual SXSW music and film festival are working with Gimbal, RightRound and Urban Airship to place 1,000 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons around the event’s venues... More
Apple Pay now at 700,000 locations
Apple Pay is now accepted “at nearly 700,000 locations” and “works with over 2,500 banks”, Apple has announced at its Spring Forward launch event... More
No Samsung Pay fees for Korean issuers
No fees will be charged by Samsung to card issuers making use of its new Samsung Pay service in Korea, Business Korea reports, “to help dominate the rapidly-growing mobile payments market”... More
Apple stores hit hardest by Apple Pay fraudsters
Credit card data stolen in recent data breaches at big retailers has led to a wave of fraudulent Apple Pay transactions, reports the Wall Street Journal... More
Softcard to close down on 31 March
The Softcard mobile wallet service is to close down altogether at the end of March 2015 in the wake of a deal between Google and the three US carriers that founded the NFC payments venture... More
US identity fraud drops, but breaches scare consumers
The number of victims of identity fraud in the US decreased 3% to 12.7 million in 2014 and total fraud losses declined to US$16 billion — a decrease of 11% from 2013 — a study from Javelin Strategy & Research has found... More
New Pebble could offer NFC strap
Watch maker Pebble has smashed through a US$500,000 crowdfunding target, raising nearly $16m in a matter of days to produce its new Pebble Time smart watch with a colour display... More
Qkr! payments at Wagamama
Diners at UK restaurant chain Wagamama can now pay for their meals at their tables using MasterCard’s Qkr... More
Madrid tests NFC ticketing on public transport
Travellers in Spain’s capital will be able to use their NFC phones to pass through ticket barriers as Madrid’s public transport system tests NFC ticketing... More
Google confirms Android Pay at MWC
Google is building a framework for mobile payments in Android, a senior executive has revealed at Mobile World Congress... More
Apple Watch to replace car keys
Apple is planning to supplant car keys with Apple Watch functionality, CEO Tim Cook has revealed in an interview with the The Telegraph... More
Samsung Pay’s success in the US is not assured, says expert
Google’s recent acquisition of Softcard’s NFC payments business may hit Samsung Pay’s prospects for widespread US adoption hard, says a respected payments consultant... More
Mobile money users grow 41% in 2014
Active mobile money accounts worldwide grew 41% to more than 100 million in 2014, a report from the GSMA’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme has found... More
Oberthur’s Pearl SE embedded in Galaxy S6
Samsung’s new flagship handsets, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, include an embedded secure element (eSE) from Oberthur Technologies... More
Niemann Foods rolls out beacon marketing
Niemann Foods has installed a Bluetooth beacon marketing platform provided by Birdzi in eight of its County Market stores and plans to roll out the solution to all its 45 County Market locations in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri in the coming months... More
Bank of England ponders own digital currency
The Bank of England is consulting external experts on research designed to help set future policy which includes considering the effects of issuing its own Bitcoin-like digital currency... More
Fibank to launch HCE mobile payments
Bulgaria’s First Investment Bank is joining forces with MeaWallet to provide the bank’s customers with a mobile payments service which uses cloud-based security and host card emulation (HCE) technology... More
LG smart watch to offer NFC payments
An LTE-equipped variant of LG‘s new luxury smart watch will offer NFC mobile payment functionality, reports Engadget... More
Barclays to allow Twitter payments
Barclays will be the first British bank to allow people to send payments using just the recipient’s Twitter username... More