Dairy Queen, Bonobos, Panera Bread, Yogurtland, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, Dave & Buster’s, Caribou Coffee plus Bird and PayByPhone are all working on projects that use Apple’s Core NFC tag reading capabilities to make it easier for consumers to sign up for their services, Apple Pay boss Jennifer Bailey has revealed. More
Swiss FinTech brand Armillion has unveiled the ultimate in wearable technology: a contactless payment bracelet that’s decorated with 252 cut diamonds, costs more than £60,000 (US$78,362) and can be used for purchases of up to £1m (US$1.3m). More
Insurance company Reliance General Insurance is using NFC tags on screens at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to enable travellers to quickly and easily make a last-minute travel insurance purchase. More
Mastercard and Edenred Bank announce first biometric card trial in Mexico — Mastercard — “Mastercard and Edenred today announced the first regional test of biometric card technology in Mexico. The effort, focused on state benefits programmes, features an embedded fingerprint sensor that provides an additional layer of security to conveniently verify the cardholder’s identity for in-store purchases.”
iOS 12.3 to bring EMV Express Transit support to Apple Pay — Tap Down Under — “New strings discovered within the pass.json files of Apple Pay card files make mention of new ‘Transit Network Identifiers’ options, as well as new passUpgrades/open loop options.”
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
Denver in the US has become the first city in the world where travellers can use the Uber mobile app to buy transit tickets and then use their phone to ride rail and bus services. More
Convenience and not having to carry physical cash or cards are the two primary reasons behind the mass adoption of mobile payments in South Korea, where a new poll has found that 79.1% of consumers have used a mobile payments service at least once in the past six months... More
Despite still being only in a test phase in India, mobile payments via Facebook’s WhatsApp instant messaging platform will launch in more markets this year, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. More
ING brings Apple Pay to the Netherlands — ING (translation) — “ING will soon be bringing Apple Pay to the Netherlands… More information about the introduction of Apple Pay in the Netherlands will be announced by ING shortly.”
The rollout of contactless cards in the US should have an overall positive influence on NFC mobile payments adoption in the US, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston — but both consumers and merchants have ongoing adoption issues that remain to be resolved... More
PARTNER NEWS: “Network tokenization is one of many technologies that online merchants are turning to in a bid to strike the right balance between high security and a frictionless buying experience,” Rambus’ André Stoorvogel explains in an in-depth blog post on the company’s website. More
Google Pay rolls out in Switzerland with support for Cornèrcard, Swiss Bankers, and more — Android Police — “Google Pay’s support documents speak of a rollout for customers of Cornèrcard, Bonuscard, Swiss Bankers, Revolut, and Boon… Today’s rollout makes Switzerland the 29th country [Google] Pay is available in.”
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
Uber users can now view real-time public transport information from Transport for London (TfL) — such as pricing, schedules and directions — in the Uber app across services including London Underground, buses and rail. More
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has begun testing a digital wallet that allows drivers to earn cryptocurrency credits in return for sharing information about traffic conditions such as jams and potholes — and then exchange them for a complimentary cup of coffee, parking charges or electric vehicle charging. More
Standard Chartered has become the first bank in Singapore to offer customers the ability to use its mobile banking app to apply for loans and credit cards — and, if approved, have a digital version of their new credit card instantly provisioned to their Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay digital wallet so they can make payments... More
Belgian bank KBC has reported on the take-up of the non-banking services such as car parking and transit ticketing that it has been adding to its mobile banking app since launching it last summer. More
Banks to join in new payment service — The Japan News — “The new service will allow consumers to make payments by presenting QR codes displayed on their smartphones to code readers installed at shops and other places. Purchased amounts will be debited from their bank accounts in real time.”
Duty Zero by CDF introduces facial recognition payment at HKIA — DFNI Frontier — “The Duty Zero by CDF liquor and tobacco stores are the first in Hong Kong to feature the software, which is designed to enhance the consumer shopping experience for Chinese consumers. The Dragonfly POS devices are placed next to the checkout, customers input their phone number and face towards the camera; the software then completes the transaction in just a few seconds.”
KeyBank, one of the largest bank-based financial services companies in the US, has begun issuing contactless credit and debit cards to its customers... More
Russia is planning a global rollout for its Mir cards, the card payment system it launched in 2015... More