Korean internet and messaging giant Daum Kakao has launched BankWalletKakao, a mobile wallet service provided in partnership with 16 Korean banks and Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute (KFTC)... More
Android
McDonald’s on mobile payments: We prefer to let our customers choose how they pay
McDonald’s sees accepting NFC mobile payments as part of its on-going customer service improvement remit, the fast food giant’s Anja Carroll has told NFC World+... More
SimplyTapp raises US$6m to grow HCE
PARTNER NEWS: Host card emulation (HCE) specialist SimplyTapp has closed a US$6m Series B funding round... More
Softcard to be on 100 phones by year’s end
US carrier joint venture Softcard’s NFC mobile payments service will be available on more than 100 devices by the end of the year... More
French banks to pilot HCE payments
Visa Europe has partnered with payment and transaction services provider Worldline to pilot NFC mobile payments using host card emulation (HCE) with four French banks in the first quarter of 2015... More
Watchdata launches wearables that support NFC payments
Singapore-based Watchdata Technologies has unveiled Sharkey, a wearable device that supports NFC payments and comes in two form factors — a smartwatch or a wristband... More
Windows Phone gets Softcard NFC payments
Windows Phone users with AT&T in the US can now make NFC payments by downloading a new Softcard app from the Windows Phone Store... More
Google Wallet gets automatic top-ups
An new version of Google Wallet, now available for Android and iOS devices, offers additional ways to add money to a user’s account balance... More
Burger King to offer mobile orders and payments across the US
Burger King customers in the US will soon be able to order their meals ahead of arrival and pay for their orders using their mobile phone and a PayPal account... More
Amex adds tokens and HCE
American Express has announced the US launch of American Express Token Service, a suite of solutions enabling traditional card account numbers to be replaced with tokens for mobile, online, in-store and NFC payments... More
Visa CEO identifies mobile payment as major growth driver
Mobile payments will be a “great driver” for Visa, CEO Charles Scharf has told analysts during the company’s Q4 earnings call, and Apple Pay is just the beginning... More
McDonald’s adopts Softcard
McDonald’s 14,000 restaurants and drive-thru locations across the US have begun accepting Android NFC mobile payments following a successful pilot program with carrier joint venture Softcard that began in 2013... More
SIA offers Europeans instant P2P payments with Jiffy
Payment processor SIA has launched a peer-to-peer payments service that lets users send and receive money in real-time with their smartphone... More
Beep’nGo hits 5m downloads
Mobeam’s mobile coupon and offer app Beep’nGo has now surpassed five million downloads to compatible Android devices... More
Android 5.0 SDK now available
The Android 5.0 SDK is now available to developers ahead of the scheduled launch of Android 5.0 ‘Lollipop’ in November... More
Hong Kong carrier SmarTone rolls out Bluetooth marketing platform to retailers
Hong Kong mobile network operator SmarTone has introduced ST Beacon, a marketing service that lets retailers send promotional messages to customers with an Android or iOS device using Bluetooth... More
Square lets customers make P2P payments via BLE
Square has added a feature to its Square Cash app that lets users leverage Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to make payments to anyone nearby, as well as an order ahead service for users of its Android and iOS apps... More
Swedish taxi firm runs NFC promo
Swedish taxi firm Taxi020 is promoting downloads of its booking app via NFC posters placed in 70 restaurants, bars and cafes in the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg... More
ALH rolls out Clipp mobile payments to 300 pubs across Australia
ALH Group, operator of more than 300 pubs in Australia, is to introduce a mobile payment service developed by Clipp that allows customers to “open, view, share and pay their bar tab or restaurant bill securely and instantly.”... More
New Zealand banks and carriers to begin Semble NFC wallet rollout in November
TSM NZ, the NFC payments joint venture between New Zealand’s carriers and the Paymark payments network, has announced a new brand name, a November date for its first trials — and a marketing partnership with Samsung... More