Guests at hotel chain Hampton Inn are to be greeted with personalised messages, digital concierge services, directions and tailored offers on their smartphones via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons deployed across Seattle... More
App
Toys R Us app gets Snap-to-Coupon
Toys R Us has added a feature in its mobile app that lets shoppers take a photograph of any coupon they see in a newspaper, catalogue or on a receipt to instantly generate a mobile-optimized version that can be stored inside the app... More
Walmart India signs up for MobiKwik payments
Walmart is the latest retailer to support in-store payments from mobile wallet service MobiKwik in 20 of its Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in India, following WHSmith and India’s largest retailer Big Bazaar... More
SIX and Swisscom partner with banks for national mobile payments service
Switzerland’s financial infrastructure operator SIX and telecommunications provider Swisscom have partnered with a number of banks in the country to establish a nationwide mobile payments service that would enable consumers to make in-store mobile payments at retail locations using either NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or a combination of both, SIX has told NFC World... More
DigiSEq gets MasterCard approval to provision payments to mass market wearables
MasterCard has approved a solution that enables payment credentials to be provisioned to wearable devices with a secure element and NFC antenna... More
August smart lock update lets Apple Watch users unlock their front door
Smart lock maker August has updated its iOS app to allow people to unlock their front doors using an Apple Watch... More
FlexStr8 brings NFC tracking to hazardous chemicals
Smart label systems provider FlexStr8 has unveiled an NFC solution for the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) system that would allow users to print labels and give chemical handlers, emergency first responders and consumers access to important hazardous information by tapping their NFC devices against products... More
Ola Cabs to apply for mobile wallet licence
Indian mobile cab hailing service Ola Cabs is reportedly planning to apply for a mobile wallet licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)... More
Vodafone customers top up with PowaTag
Pay-as-you-go customers of Vodafone UK can now top up their mobile phones via Powa Technologies’ mobile payment platform PowaTag in more than 500 Vodafone stores as well as Argos, Brighthouse, Co-Op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, JD Williams and Wilkinson... More
Subway adds PayPal to mobile app
Restaurant chain Subway is to add PayPal as a payment option in its mobile order and pay app to allow customers to make in-app and in-store payments in 27,000 US locations... More
Commonwealth Bank adds loyalty to mobile app
Commonwealth Bank has added a loyalty feature to its mobile banking app that also offers HCE payments, allowing users to store loyalty cards and redeem them at the checkout with their NFC phone or by scanning the loyalty card barcode... More
Samsung and MasterCard prepare Europe for Samsung Pay
Samsung has announced it is extending its global partnership with MasterCard to deliver Samsung Pay to European card issuers using the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) — and is currently working with European banks and partners to bring the mobile payment service to the continent following a planned launch in the US and South Korea later this year... More
Tech firms do “better job” than banks, say 24% of young Brits
More than a fifth (24%) of Britons aged between 18 and 34 believe companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon would do a “better job” of providing financial products and services than banks, with 8% now choosing their bank depending on the type of mobile service it offers, research from price comparison site uSwitch reveals... More
42% of US iPhone 6 owners use Apple Pay in May and June
More than two fifths of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users reported having used Apple Pay between the end of May and mid-June, with 84% making more than three in-store transactions, the bi-monthly Apple Pay tracker from Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG) reveals... More
Jobseekers offered head start on new vacancies with a tap of NFC phone
Jobseekers in Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK could soon be able to get a head start on new vacancies by tapping their NFC phone against signs, posters and window stickers placed in shopping centres and business locations, thanks to a partnership between NFC and contactless platform provider Tapit and mobile and social recruitment app Workible... More
Colombia festival visitors first to use Plazez mobile payments service
Thousands of visitors at last weekend’s Zona Picnic Club festival in the Colombian capital Bogota have become the first to use a mobile payment service developed by payment processor Paymentez and MasterCard to pay for food and drink at stalls throughout the event... More
Burger King adds MasterPass to US app
Burger King is to add MasterCard’s MasterPass functionality to its mobile app, allowing customers in the US to find the nearest restaurant, explore the menu and pay directly with their phone... More
OneBit tests Bitcoin payments via NFC
Bitcoin mobile wallet provider OneBit has begun alpha testing its mobile payment service which works via NFC at the point of sale wherever MasterCard is accepted... More
One in five Starbucks sales in the US made with mobile payments
Coffee chain Starbucks is processing nearly nine million mobile payments a week across its US locations, representing 20% of all in-store transactions, CEO Howard Schultz revealed during the company’s third quarter earnings call... More
Shell UK rolls out PayPal mobile payments at the pump
Motorists at oil and gas company Shell UK service stations can now make mobile payments at the pump using their Shell Motorist app and PayPal account... More