The EMV payment standards body owned by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and JCB is inviting mobile operators, chip and handset manufacturers and application providers to a two day meeting designed to help shape EMVCo’s NFC standards strategy. More
Visa
First commercial NFC service launched in Malaysia
The new Maxis FastTap service lets customers use Nokia NFC phones to make Visa PayWave contactless transactions and pay for tolls, transit, parking and theme park charges. More
Citibank, Visa announce NFC trial in Singapore with operator M1
Citi M1 Platinum Visa cardholders will be able to use their mobile phones to make contactless payments linked to their credit card account at any merchant equipped to handle Visa payWave contactless transactions. More
Cubic to offer NFC upgrade capability to major transit systems
Transit ticketing supplier Cubic has partnered with Vivotech to offer its customers, who include the transit operators for London, Washington and New York/New Jersey, the ability to upgrade their ticketing systems to accept payment via contactless cards and NFC phones. More
Orange and Barclaycard partner to launch NFC in the UK
All customers are expected to be able to use their phones to pay for everyday items within three years in “the biggest revolution in payments since plastic cards were introduced over 40 years ago.” More
Singapore to get national trusted third party for NFC
Singapore’s banks, telecoms networks and transit operators have given the go ahead for the creation of a national trusted third party designed to ensure full interoperability between the NFC services of all mobile operators and all service providers. More
Australia’s first NFC trial hailed a success
Telstra, National Australia Bank and Visa say participants in a three month trial in Melbourne have given the thumbs up to the technology and the companies will now continue to work towards a commercial NFC launch. More
Sony/NXP joint venture announces ‘universal NFC chip’
Moversa’s new U-SAM chip enables multiple contactless technologies to be supported on one mobile phone, raising the possibility that consumers could soon be using their NFC handsets for everything from Mifare metro tickets and Japanese Osaifu-Keitai electronic wallet functions to Visa and MasterCard contactless transactions. More
Visa and Kasikornbank launch NFC payments trial in Thailand
Customers can upload their Visa card account to a Nokia 6212 handset containing Visa’s payWave contactless application and then make purchases at any of 1,000 merchant locations equipped to handle contactless transactions. More
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
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
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
GSMA calls for mass market NFC handsets by mid-2009
The mobile industry association has finalised its device requirements for NFC handsets and called on manufacturers to put phones incorporating the Single Wire Protocol interface into consumers’ hands by the middle of next year. More
Cartes 2008: NFC pops up all over the show
Anyone who expected to visit Cartes 2008 and find just the odd NFC application hidden somewhere round the back of a small stand lost in the outer reaches of the exhibition hall was in for quite a surprise — Near Field Communications World spotted forty companies talking NFC at this year’s event… More
Malaysia to get commercial NFC launch in January?
After a successful trial involving NFC-based retail and transit payments, Malaysia’s Maxis Communications and Maybank are reported to be planning a commercial launch in January 2009 More
TfL reports to London Assembly on future of Oyster
Transport for London now looks pretty set on its plan to replace its prepaid Oyster contactless card system with a bank-card compatible solution. Both contactless bank cards and NFC are options being considered and TfL will definitely outsource delivery of the new system to the private sector More