The commercial launch sees Sagem’s Cosy Phone — an NFC handset announced in February this year and aimed at senior citizens and business users — become the first widely available NFC phone to support the Single Wire Protocol. More
NTT Docomo is set to make the switch to NFC standard technology in 2013, according to a report in Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. More
The UK government has published a consultation document and is requesting feedback from interested parties on planned changes to the way that electronic money is regulated in the UK. More
ARM, Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), Infineon Technologies, Brightsight and Graz University of Technology, Austria have received funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) to develop technology that will enable a new kind of secure element to be built into a mobile device’s main processor. More
News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: NXP CEO picks NFC • Nacha cuts out cards • P2P payments set for growth • Bharti Airtel picks up payments license • Facebook Deals a blow • Only 4% have checked out checking in. More
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Plans at Metro Bank, the first new retail bank to be launched in the UK for more than a hundred years, include the provision of contactless stickers that customers could attach to their mobile phones to make payments at the point of sale, according to Computerworld. More
The mobile network operator, 49.5% owned by the Sri Lankan government, is to launch a wide range of services using an NFC platform developed by Sony FeliCa. More
The world’s first pilot test using NFC phones to replace hotel room keys begins this week at the Clarion Hotel in Stockholm, using a new mobile key solution developed by Assa Abloy. More
The Silicon Valley start-up plans to use near field communication technology to build a new category of toy products that children can play with both online and offline. More
A total of thirteen cities have responded to the French government’s call for proposals for three to five more cities to receive funding to run large scale NFC field trials similar to the Cityzi project running in Nice, according to Le Journal du Net. More
The electronic components supplier’s new 15mm x 20mm x 5mm NFC antenna can be incorporated into a single module that also houses the phone’s main mobile communications antenna, making it easier for a handset manufacturer to build near field communication functionality into a device. More
Mobey Forum‘s banking members have more than 450 million customers around the world, the mobile financial services association has announced, meaning that its members now represent more than 25% of the world’s banking customers. More
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News in brief from the NFC world and beyond: Czech mobile payments • Akbank pushes contactless • Visa opens up • The rich love a bargain • Germany moves to contactless ID • mFoundy’s mobile banking guarantee • Amsterdam shops to refuse cash • Starbucks expands 2D payments • M-Pesa adds supermarkets • WiFi goes P2P • and more… More
Mobile payments specialist Waspit has announced it is to launch a new open loop NFC payments service at the Ad:Tech conference and exhibition in New York on 3 November. More
SK C&C USA, the US arm of Korean mobile commerce specialist SK C&C has joined international smart card and NFC specifications body GlobalPlatform. More
The NFC Test Zone announced in December 2009 by leading Russian mobile network operators is now set to go live in November, eMoney News reports, with a ticketing pilot on the Moscow rail-air link operated by Aeroexpress. More
Mobile marketing, payments and commerce specialist i-Free has become the first Russian firm to join the NFC Forum. Headquartered in St Petersburg, i-Free has offices in Moscow, Mumbai, Sao Paolo, Beijing, Kiev and Almaty and offers its products and services in 83 countries around the world. More
STMicroelectronics‘ latest financial results include a mention of recent successes the company has experienced with its ST21NFCA NFC controller chip. According to the company’s financial statement for the three month and nine month periods to 25 September 2010, ST has achieved “design-ins at major handset and smartcard manufacturers for the ST21NFCA, ST’s single-chip solutions for NFC (Near Field Communication) applications.” More
Bell ID and Dutch EMV card personalisation bureau PPC Card Systems have announced they are teaming up to provide hosted NFC application provisioning and management services. More
Bling Nation has launched FanConnect, a new platform that enables merchants to offer mobile rewards and connect with customers via social networking services at the checkout. More