The Chengyang District of the city of Qingdao has become the first in China to use a new WeChat service to issue government vouchers directly to residents’ mobile phones, in a bid to boost consumer spending as the Chinese economy begins to recover from Covid-19... More
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Barclays lets UK customers use its mobile banking app to make payments from accounts held at other banks
Barclays has become the first UK high street bank to leverage open banking APIs to enable its customers to use its mobile banking app to make payments from accounts they hold with other banks... More
Dual NFC and QR mobile payments service launches in Pakistan
UnionPay, Huawei and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) have launched a mobile payments service that lets owners of Huawei and Honor NFC phones use a single mobile wallet app to pay at any merchant equipped to accept either contactless or QR code payments... More
Bahamas expands digital currency pilot
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has extended its central bank digital currency pilot to the island of Abaco and revealed that the new Sand Dollar currency will include support for offline functionality... More
Tesco opens cashless convenience store
UK-based supermarket giant Tesco is testing a cashless-only payments service at its High Holborn store in central London... More
Mattel to expand its Hot Wheels ID NFC toy range
Mattel is adding a new, lower-cost track option and additional NFC-enabled cars to its Hot Wheels ID range this year, the toy maker has told Engadget... More
Carriers complete cross-border blockchain mobile payment
Customers of a US carrier have used a mobile payment app to bill purchases made at a merchant in Taiwan to their mobile phone account, a consortium of companies developing a blockchain-based carrier billing system has announced... More
Sweden begins central bank digital currency pilot
Sweden’s central bank The Riksbank has begun testing a digital currency designed to enable consumers to store an electronic version of the Swedish krona in a digital wallet and make payments, deposits and withdrawals using a mobile app... More
Chevron lets drivers pay with Venmo at the pump
Chevron has added support for PayPal’s Venmo P2P payments service to its Chevron and Texaco mobile apps, making it possible for drivers to share or split their fuel purchases with passengers... More
M&S rolls out mobile self-checkout across London
Iconic UK retailer M&S is expanding its mobile self-checkout service to 49 stores across London, following a successful pilot at six stores that saw a Mobile Pay Go transaction being made every three seconds during lunchtime trading... More
Virgin Voyages to issue cruise passengers with contactless wearables
Virgin Voyages is to issue contactless wristbands to its cruise passengers, enabling them “to not only unlock their cabin with ease, but also to explore all of the thrills and great experiences that Scarlet Lady and the rest of our fleet will have to offer”... More
7-Eleven pilots cashierless store at US headquarters
7-Eleven is piloting a cashierless store concept at its US headquarters that uses technology developed in-house to let employees check in to the 700sqft store, shop and then exit — without needing to visit a physical checkout... More
Weave adds NFC to tabletop role-playing game
Continue to redefine your story with the new Storyteller Screen for Weave — Gaming Trend — “The traditional game master screen has been re-imagined with new technology to keep storytelling fresh… Scan the app with the NFC chip to load character sheets, launch new or old stories and invite new players to current sessions.”
Miami-Dade launches mobile ticketing app that rewards passengers for watching ads
The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) has launched an app that lets passengers earn loyalty points that they can then exchange for free travel when they view or interact with personalised ads... More
Poste Italiane adds QR code payments to Postepay app
Italy’s national postal service provider has added QR code-based payments to its mobile payments app, to support the country’s transition from cash to digital payments... More
Sicilian farmers use NFC to let consumers verify the authenticity of premium blood oranges
Consumers purchasing premium Sicilian blood oranges will be able to track the provenance of the product using a new system that combines NFC tags and sensors placed on each box of oranges with a blockchain-based tracking system... More
Sberbank lets customers gift their loyalty points to friends and family
Russia’s Sberbank is launching an app for its Spasibo loyalty programme that will make it possible for customers to transfer their loyalty points to a friend or family member, either as a small gift or so they can “save up Spasibo points for a large purchase together”... More
Icici Bank lets customers withdraw cash with their mobile phones
Customers of India’s Icici Bank can now make a cash withdrawal at any of the bank’s 15,000 ATMs, using just their mobile phone... More
Samsung Pay adds ‘do not sell my data’ option for US users
A new privacy controls section now lets users of Samsung Pay in the US opt to prevent the company from selling their data to “Samsung Pay Partners”, XDA Developers reports... More
Uber adds Las Vegas transit tickets to mobile app
Uber has added support for transit tickets issued by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) to its mobile app, enabling users to buy passes from within the app and then use their smartphone to board Las Vegas bus services... More