Starbucks’ Mobile Order & Pay service is now live in Portland, Oregon ahead of a planned nationwide roll out across the US that will begin in 2015. The coffee chain first spoke about its plans in October, following the introduction of a QR code-based mobile ordering service in Korea earlier this year. More
- Bank of China lets taxi drivers accept central bank digital currency payments on NFC mobile phones
- Juniper forecasts 25% increase in POS terminal transaction values by 2028
- STMicroelectronics launches NFC tag chip with elliptic curve cryptography
- NFC Forum survey finds majority of consumers now prefer making payments with their mobile phone
- Hello, NFCW readers!
Blarney Castle identifies trees with NFC horti-tags
Blarney Castle, a medieval stronghold and tourist attraction in Ireland, is attaching custom-developed NFC tags to its trees so that gardeners will be able to easily create and update a database of information about each individual tree while they work. More
Payments security survey finds NFC and HCE are now top priorities
Seven in ten (71%) US IT operations, security, and electronic deployment professionals consider NFC to be essential or very important to their organization’s security, a survey by Ponemon Institute for HP Atalla has found, with host card emulation (HCE) following closely behind at 68%. More
Toshiba offers NFC/BLE combi chip
Toshiba has unveiled a dual-function IC that includes both a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio and an NFC Type 3 (Felica) tag... More
BitStraat equips Dutch merchants with Bitcoin POS terminals
Dutch startup BitStraat has launched a project aimed at turning Amsterdam into Bitcoin City, providing one hundred merchants with a free tablet-based POS terminal they can use to process mobile payments made using the virtual currency. More
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
Office Depot delivers marketing messages to shoppers via Shazam audio watermarks
Office Depot has become the first retail chain to roll out Shazam In-Store, a mobile marketing platform that makes use of the Shazam music discovery app, inaudible digital watermarks, a merchant’s overhead music system and a location-based platform developed by Mood Media to send promotional messages to shoppers’ mobile phones. More
BKM and Mekanist let Turkish diners pay by beacon
Diners at Turkish restaurant Olivia’s Pizzeria have become the first in the country to be able to use their BKM Express digital wallet to pay for their meals with their mobile phone. More
Quikkly offers QR code alternative
UK startup Quikkly has unveiled an alternative to QR codes that aims to provide an improved user experience and increased consumer uptake. “QR codes are great for machines, but they weren’t designed for people,” Quikkly says. “We’ve designed Quikkly Tags to be understandable by everyone. It’s clear what app to use and it’s clear what will happen when you scan the tag.” More
Juniper forecasts NFC and HCE growth
Mobile phone and tablet users will be making 195bn mobile transactions a year by 2019, up from 72bn this year, Juniper Research forecasts... More
Alipay offers transport passes
Alipay is making it possible for Chinese tourists to purchase transport passes for Singapore, Thailand and Macau ahead of travel and then collect them by scanning a barcode on their mobile phones at booths and kiosks at their destination... More
AirAsia picks Yoyo for mobile payments
UK startup Yoyo is to provide a mobile payments and loyalty app to Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, City AM reports... More
Credit unions to adopt Apple Pay
A number of US credit unions are actively working towards adopting Apple Pay NFC payments, credit union technology provider Co-op Financial Services has revealed... More
Keep up to date: Get NFCW's headlines by email every Wednesday
Half of UK consumers use digital wallets
More than half of UK consumers (54%) say that they often or always use digital wallets to pay for goods online, according to research from online payments service Skrill, and 17% of 18-24 year olds are also paying for goods and services in-store with a mobile device... More
TD Bank partners with Moven
Toronto-Dominion Bank is expected to announce a partnership with New York based banking app maker Moven to help its customers use their smartphones to keep track of every purchase they make, The Globe and Mail reports... More
Contactless donations expand in London
Caffe Nero and Leon Restaurants have become the first UK retailers to join Penny for London, a service first introduced on the Transport for London (TfL) network that automatically collects small charitable donations when participating consumers use their contactless cards to pay... More
Barclays to test beacons in branches
Barclays is to run a three month Bluetooth beacon technology trial at its Pinstone Street branch in Sheffield, UK, to alert bank staff to the presence of customers with disabilities... More
Scotiabank adds smartwatch app
Canada’s Scotiabank has launched a Quick Balance app for the Samsung Gear 2 and Samsung Gear S smartwatches that lets customers check their account balance with a swipe of the screen... More
White paper explores the benefits of host card emulation
A new white paper that explores how host card emulation (HCE) can overcome the challenges faced by service providers when implementing secure NFC services is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre. More
Indian shopping malls to pilot iBeacon
Mobile marketing and advertising platform BeaconStream is to pilot iBeacon technology in malls in Bengaluru and Chennai, India, within the next three weeks, The Hindu reports... More
Sephora adds Apple Pay
Cosmetics store chain Sephora has rolled out support for Apple Pay in all five of its Bay Area stores in the US and is also testing NFC payments acceptance in one Manhattan location in New York... More