NFC handset availability will start to ramp up in 2010 but handsets using the GSM Association’s preferred Single Wire Protocol approach to NFC won’t be around in volume until 2011 and beyond. More
- Google Wallet goes live in five new countries
- NFC Forum to increase transaction range from 2cm “to three or four centimetres”
- Delhi Metro reports on passenger uptake of QR paper tickets
- Seven-Eleven stores in Japan to let consumers access ATM services via face biometrics
- Apple picks iris biometrics for Vision Pro virtual reality headset user authentication
NFC Forum gets new board member, adds more associates
Membership of the NFC Forum is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. Handset manufacturers, mobile service providers, payment services providers, chip makers, solution developers, municipalities and academic institutions have all recently joined up. More
Is NFC ripe for adoption, or has it missed the boat?
OPINION: ABI Research caused quite a stir this week when it distributed a press release saying NFC has taken too long to develop, that other mobile payments solutions such as SMS have beaten it to market and it will now be six years before NFC becomes a viable mobile payments solution. More
Mobile technology to drive consumer interaction at London Olympics
The BT team responsible for the communications infrastructure at the London 2012 Olympic Games is exploring ways to use mobile services to enhance the consumer experience. Under discussion are phone voting and the use of NFC for small payments and for event staff management. More
NFC isn’t really six years away, says ABI
A controversial press release from ABI Research this week seemed to indicate the company believes it will be six years before NFC can offer viable large-scale mobile payment solutions. A little further investigation, though, finds the analysts still expect to see the first major orders at the end of next year… More
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Casagras takes a step towards defining the ‘Internet of Things’
The ‘Internet of Things’ is one of those terms that everyone vaguely understands — but is almost impossible to describe exactly. At a meeting in Shanghai last week, members of the Casagras project sat down to thrash out a definition and a vision statement that would be acceptable to all. More
NFC and flexible OLEDs could light up product packaging
The EU-funded Rolled project has developed a cost-effective way to produce flexible, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) using roll-to-roll manufacturing technology. That means they could be mass produced very cheaply and an NFC phone could be used to interact with OLEDs incorporated into everything from product packaging to posters and beyond. More
Call for papers: NFC World Congress 2009
Near Field Communications World’s editor Sarah Clark is in charge of the conference programme for the NFC World Congress, to be held in Brussels on 16-18 June 2009. The preliminary agenda has now been finalized and this is your chance to be considered for one of the speaker slots… More
Tiny tags or large scale payments systems: Which will drive NFC?
OPINION: It’s the big, bank-led trials that have had most of the NFC publicity so far. Away from the bright lights of the payments arena, though, there are quieter companies already enjoying commercial success with NFC. More
All I want for Christmas is a Tikitag
British gadget retailer Firebox is aiming to turn NFC into the must-have gift for geeks and gadget lovers this Christmas with a £39.99 Tikitag starter kit that includes a tag reader and ten NFC-compatible RFID stickers… More
ING and MasterCard launch mobile PayPass trial in Romania
Five hundred ING customers in Bucharest are to be the first in the world to have a prepaid Maestro PayPass account loaded onto their NFC phone. More
French retailers commit to large scale NFC trials in 2009
France’s largest retail chains have agreed to work together with the country’s leading mobile operators to put in place a series of large scale near field communication trials that will see consumers using NFC phones to make payments and manage their loyalty cards. More
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Mobilkom Austria uses NFC to send blood pressure results to doctors
The mobile operator is working with an Austrian eHealth research team to develop telemedicine services that use NFC to transmit patient data securely over the air. More
UPM Raflatac launches range of NFC tags
Product line-up includes media badges for use on music, data and movie discs plus tags for NFC ticketing, pairing and other applications… More
Reslink signs up new distributors in the UK and Southeast Asia
Two more companies have signed up to become resellers of the Finnish workforce management solutions specialist’s NFC-based time and attendance and location-sensitive data capture solutions. More
Smart stickers power new community payments system
A new payments service from Bling Nation offers local banks the chance to provide a low-cost closed-loop payments system within their local community. Smart stickers attached to customers’ mobile phones and low-cost ‘BlingTag’ readers are at the heart of the system and NFC-based services will be added once handsets become widely available. More
US tradeshows collect visitor information with NFC phones
Five hundred Nokia NFC phones were issued to exhibitors by event registration specialists ITN International at last week’s Greenbuild 2008. A host of advanced features such as the over-the-air provision of promotional information, special invitation tickets and event-based social networking are to be added soon… More
Italian ski resorts to test open NFC system in Stolpan’s first trial
Tourists visiting ski resorts in the Italian Dolomites this winter will be provided with NFC-enabled phones for use in a range of applications as part of the Stolpan consortium’s first field trial. Phones and terminals from multiple suppliers will be used. More
Alliance forms group to promote “central role” of SIMs in NFC
The SIM card manufacturers’ association has reacted to the GSMA’s call for mass market NFC-enabled handset availability by creating a dedicated working group aimed at promoting the advantages of putting the SIM at the centre of an NFC system. More
O2 Academy music venues to provide test beds for NFC
Mobile operator O2 has signed a deal which will see eleven major music venues across the UK rebranded as an ‘O2 Academy’. O2 will offer customers a series of benefits such as priority access to tickets and will use the venues to test a range of NFC-based services. More
