Royal Bank of Canada’s cloud-based NFC wallet is now available to Virgin Mobile subscribers and to customers with a BlackBerry Z10 or Z30 mobile phone, the bank has announced... More
Android
KLM uses Bluetooth beacons to help passengers navigate Schiphol Airport
Passengers travelling with KLM from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport can now use the airline’s app to get a map of the airport that shows the route they need to take to their gate and the time required to get to there... More
AMS offers developer kit for adding NFC to electronic devices
PARTNER NEWS: Chip maker AMS, one of two NFC IC suppliers to Apple, has introduced a development kit and software stack designed to make it easy to build NFC functionality into routers, set-top boxes, automotive infotainment systems, consumer electronics devices, home appliances and other NFC-enabled electronics products... More
SimplyTapp compares Apple Pay and Android HCE
PARTNER NEWS: A new blog post from HCE specialist SimplyTapp explains how Apple is using tokens in its new Apple Pay NFC mobile payments service — and how that compares with the way tokens are used to enable Android phones to make NFC mobile payments using host card emulation (HCE)... More
Macy’s unveils mobile payments and customer marketing plans
Macy’s Inc, owner of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department store chains, has unveiled plans to implement a range of new technologies designed to provide an omnichannel shopping service to its customers... More
iPhone, NFC and Apple Pay: How should banks react?
PARTNER VIEWS: The launch of Apple Pay “is good news for US iPhone users who want to ‘tap to pay’,” Martin Cox, global head of sales at Bell ID, writes in a blog post... More
NXP launches dynamic NFC tag chip for consumer devices
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has unveiled a dynamic NFC chip that can be used by electronic device makers to let consumers use their mobile phone as a remote user interface “rather than relying on expensive touchscreens or WiFi connectivity for wireless data exchange on home electronics.”... More
Retailer-owned payments venture MCX unveils CurrentC brand
Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), the mobile payments venture co-owned by US retail chains with collective revenues of more than US$1 trillion annually, has announced that its payments, loyalty and offers platform is to be called CurrentC — and provided the first details of how the service will work when it rolls out to 110,000 merchant locations across the US in 2015... More
BBVA reports 250,000 mobile wallet users
Spain-based banking group BBVA has signed up 250,000 customers for its BBVA Wallet service and is to expand availability to the US, Mexico and Chile this year... More
Broadcom offers IoT developer kit
Chip maker Broadcom has introduced Wiced Sense, a developer kit designed “to enable developers to rapidly prototype ideas and concepts for IoT devices and applications.”... More
St George adds fingerprint security to mobile banking app
Customers of Australia’s St George Bank will be able to use the Touch ID fingerprint verification technology built into the iPhone 5S to log into mobile banking when iOS8 launches in September... More
PayPal introduces one touch mobile payments
PayPal has launched One Touch, a mobile payments solution that lets consumers make payments in supported apps with a single touch... More
UK retailers install hi-tech mannequins that let customers buy what they see in the window
UK retailers House of Fraser, Hawes & Curtis and Bentalls are using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons installed in display mannequins to let customers get information about outfits displayed in their shop windows and around their stores, receive special offers and buy items with their mobile phone... More
Merchants to test BLE payments at Vilnius street fair
More than 250 merchants taking part in this year’s Vilnius City Fiesta will be testing out a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mobile payments service that uses EVP International’s Paysera platform... More
Amazon Wallet teams up with Blackhawk
Amazon is working with prepaid specialist Blackhawk Network on its new Amazon Wallet service, which lets Android and Fire users store gift cards and loyalty cards on their mobile phone... More
Amazon releases mobile wallet app for Android
Amazon Wallet, an Android app that lets users store gift cards and loyalty cards on their mobile phone, is now available to download from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore... More
Westpac trials HCE mobile payments in New Zealand
Westpac has begun a host card emulation (HCE) pilot in New Zealand, enabling customers’ credit and debit card details to be securely stored in the cloud and then used at the point of sale to make mobile payments on their Android NFC device... More
Consult Hyperion demos EMV mobile payments over BLE on an iPhone
UK payments technology specialist Consult Hyperion has unveiled a proof-of-concept solution that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and host card emulation (HCE) to enable both iPhone and Android NFC phone owners to make MasterCard, Visa and other open loop EMV payments at the point of sale... More
Google Wallet adds support for gift cards and P2P payments
Google Wallet users can now store gift cards on their mobile phone and redeem them electronically in stores... More
Visa Inc abandons digital wallet ambitions, Visa Europe to continue investing
Visa Inc is replacing its V.me digital wallet service with Visa Checkout, a new payment service that enables consumers in the US, Canada and Australia to pay for goods online, on any device, in “just a few clicks”... More