The number of people in Japan who use their smartphone to make mobile payments at the point of sale will reach 23.9 million — 21.5% of the population — by the end of this year, up from 19.1 million in 2019, according to an eMarketer forecast... More
Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, USA, has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by switching to a mobile-only ID system, removing the need to issue physical cards or for students to visit the campus ID office in person to register for a card and have their photograph taken... More
The popularity of QR codes has “skyrocketed” in the USA and UK this year, with 53% of consumers saying they want to see QR codes used more broadly in future and 43% that they plan to use a QR code as a payment method soon, a new survey has revealed... More
Staff in Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) are testing an NFC wristband that has been developed to track Covid-19 patients and people who are self-quarantining in a bid to control the spread of infection... More
Mobile ticketing transaction volumes, including contactless, in-app and mobile messaging ticket purchases, will increase from 6.8bn transactions in 2020 to 16.9bn in 2022, heralding a permanent shift towards contactless ticketing, according to a forecast by Juniper Research... More
Passengers travelling on ferries between the US mainland and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket can now pay for their tickets using Apple Wallet or Google Pay and authenticate their ticket on boarding by holding their iPhone, Apple Watch or Android device near an NFC-enabled ticket scanner... More
Fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars American Football team can now make QR-based mobile payments at retailers and concessions across its TIAA Bank Field stadium using a mobile wallet integrated into the official team app, which supporters can already use to access their mobile tickets for entry on game day... More
Residents of the island of Jersey can now make contactless payments to local businesses using a prepaid card that is being sent to all eligible citizens as part of a fiscal stimulus package designed to alleviate the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic... More
Diners will soon be able to use a new feature in the Uber Eats app to make contactless orders and payments in US restaurants, whether they are dining in or ordering a takeaway meal... More
The NFCW Expo provides industry suppliers with a way to launch new products, showcase their thought leadership and connect directly with a global audience of senior executives and technical specialists, NFCW editor Sarah Clark explains in a presentation now available in the NFCW Knowledge Centre... More
Residents and retailers in Bermuda are taking part in a pilot to test the viability of a “digital stimulus token”, which the Bermudan Government hopes to use to distribute financial aid more efficiently and to facilitate the purchase of food and other essential items during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic... More
Motorists in Austin, Texas, in the US, can now use Google Pay to make payments for parking directly from Google Maps, removing the need for them to use a physical parking meter or ticketing machine or download a parking payment app... More
Visa’s client banks and card issuers across Europe will be able to use a platform developed by Norwegian payments app Vipps to launch their own mobile wallets, following a strategic partnership deal signed by the two companies... More
The market for payment-enabled wearable devices will reach US$7.2bn in 2024, “driven by a surge in contactless payment adoption, as a result of growing usage of contactless cards and near field communication (NFC)-enabled mobile payments,” ABI Research predicts.... More
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has raised the limit for all contactless card transactions and contactless ATM withdrawals in the country from 50 manats (US$29.40) to 100 manats (US$58.80)... More
The number of passengers using the Omny contactless payment service to pay for journeys on the New York City subway has risen by 168% since August 2019 and by 50% since May this year, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) reports... More
One in three UK consumers (32%) are in favour of further raising the country’s current contactless spending limit from £45 (US$59), according to a YouGov survey... More
A survey of merchants and consumers in eight countries around the world has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in “a dramatic shift to digital commerce” with nearly half of consumers (48%) saying they would not now shop at a store that only offers payment methods that require contact with a cashier or a shared device... More
NFCW is getting ready to open the doors on a new exhibition area in its Knowledge Centre that will provide readers with a way to continue launching new products, finding new customers and business partners and identifying potential new suppliers while trade shows are on hold... More
The Alchemist, a busy cocktail bar and restaurant in the UK city of Manchester, is to roll out a new service that uses finger vein biometrics to provide a combined payments, age verification and permission-based contact tracing service that removes the need for customers to carry a physical ID card... More