BioCatch has raised US$10million to expand its behavioural biometric authentication platform... More
ecommerce
Amazon unveils smartphone that lets users shop the world around them
Amazon has launched Fire, a smartphone that includes 3D “dynamic perspective” technology and a dedicated Firefly button that lets users recognize — and buy from Amazon — physical products, movies and music that they come across as they shop, browse and socialize... More
LevelUp to build BLE into payments terminals
US mobile payments service LevelUp is to provide its merchants with the ability to push offers to shoppers via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons built into the next version of its POS device... More
Alibaba launches mobile payments and services platform
Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has unveiled Mashang Tao, a new platform that lets brands and merchants create QR codes that can be used to make purchases in stores, online and from printed advertisements, as well as provide a range of value-added services to consumers... More
PayPal CEO joins Facebook as head of messaging products
PayPal CEO David Marcus is leaving the online payments provider at the end of June to take up a new role at Facebook, as vice president of messaging products — prompting speculation that he will oversee building ecommerce and payments capabilities into the social network... More
Edgetech to offer acoustic mobile payments in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe-based banking solutions provider Edgetech Solutions is preparing to launch a new mobile payment service that uses sound-based communication technology from NearBytes to let people make payments in stores with their phones... More
French retailer uses PowaTag to create 10,000 virtual shops, major UK chains to follow
French fashion retailer Comptoir des Cotonniers is using a platform developed by Powa Technologies to turn posters, billboards, magazines, cafe table tops, postcards, flyers and clothing into ‘virtual boutiques’ that let consumers order and pay for goods with their mobile phone... More
PrivatBank to offer NFC payments via HCE
Ukraine’s PrivatBank is to launch a cloud-based NFC payments service using host card emulation (HCE)... More
Octopus and Alibaba add NFC security to ecommerce
Hong Kong prepaid card provider Octopus has partnered with Chinese online giant Alibaba’s Taobao ecommerce platform and Alipay mobile payments service to let customers make secure online purchases using a combination of contactless cards, QR codes and NFC phones. More
Japanese online retailer to launch DIY shopping wall
Online retailer DIY-Tool.com is to launch a physical “shopping wall” that makes use of NFC tags and QR codes, using a new platform developed by Tokyo-based Aquabit Spirals, NFC vendor Tapit and application development company EC Sites... More
Gartner cuts NFC mobile payments forecast by 40%
Worldwide mobile payment transaction values will reach US$235.4bn in 2013, a 44% increase on 2012’s $163.1bn, according to a new forecast from Gartner — but NFC transactions will account for a smaller than expected proportion of that total and the overall market value has also been reduced... More
Towns pick NFC to drive shoppers back to British high streets
“A town and city centre is only vibrant and thriving if people find a reason to go there”, Guy Douglas of ATCM says. “NFC is a way of delivering an enhanced town centre offer, which can only be a good thing especially when the high street is hugely challenged by ecommerce.” More
Samsung tests NFC window shopping in Amsterdam
The phone maker has teamed up with Dutch ecommerce merchant JeansOnline to make exclusive offers to Samsung phone owners who tap a TecTiles tag or scan a QR code at a pop-up store in the city centre. More
Auchan picks mobile barcodes for France’s MCX
“Our goal is to create the m-payment standard within the retail sector, independent of any telephone operators and banks,” says the head of Flash’n Pay, a new mobile wallet brand that has been created by one of the country’s largest grocery retailers and is set to go head to head with the French carriers’ NFC-based Cityzi service. More
UK catalogue giant Shop Direct tests NFC shopping
The retailer’s online department store Very.co.uk has taken over a shop front in the busy Liverpool One shopping centre to promote three fashion collections that have been specifically tailored to meet the needs of local shoppers — based on the online browsing and purchasing behaviour of customers in the Liverpool area. More
Danish telco payments venture maps out path to NFC
Denmark’s four mobile network operators have formed a joint venture company to introduce mobile payments and a three phase rollout programme that will “eventually” evolve to include support for NFC. More
Turkcell upgrades NFC mobile wallet service
The Turkish mobile network operator has introduced a major upgrade to its NFC-based Cep-T Cüzdan mobile wallet, adding the ability to make online purchases and support for any mobile phone. Fourteen banks have signed up for the new service and a strategic partnership with MasterCard will see the platform being made available in other countries. More
Visa to launch V.me digital wallet in UK, France and Spain
“Our intention is that V.me will ultimately be able to incorporate any or all of our new payment technologies, allowing our members to deliver the best possible payments experience whether face-to-face, online or in a mobile environment,” says Visa Europe’s Mariano Dima. More
MasterCard publishes roadmap for moving the US to EMV and NFC
The payments giant has set out its plans for moving the US from magnetic stripe card technology to chip cards and NFC phones. The plans include incentives for merchants, integrated customer loyalty programmes and support for dynamic authentication technologies. More
MasterCard surveys European attitudes to payment technologies
The ‘Tech Nation’ poll of consumers in eight European nations found that both mobile and contactless payments are used most widely in Russia and Turkey while only 5% of British consumers say they have made a contactless card payment. More