NFC World

Garmin unveils smartwatch for runners with built-in music and payments

Garmin introduces the Forerunner 645 Music – a GPS running watch with integrated music and Garmin Pay contactless payments — Garmin — “[Garmin] today announced the Forerunner 645 Music, a GPS running watch with integrated music that gives athletes the freedom to enjoy their favourite tunes on a run or during a workout without having to take a phone along. Additionally, when in need of a bottle of water or a quick bite to eat, Garmin Pay contactless payment solution lets users pay for purchases with their watch and keep on moving.”


NFC World

Men’s Health gives positive review to Gymkit with NFC

Apple’s GymKit launches today, promises additional, super accurate gym data — Men’s Health — “A quick boink of the watch near the near field communication port and one tap of the Watch to confirm you want to workout, you’re off. Adjust the pitch of the treadmill and you’ll see your feet climbed rise on the Watch. The real-time, two-way data exchange is impressive, and your equipment workout data will get logged directly into Apple’s Health app, so you can deploy it later as you deem fit.”


NFC World

First US gym adds support for Apple Watch NFC pairing with exercise machines

Apple Watch GymKit syncing arrives in exactly one US gym — Engadget — “GymKit syncing on the Apple Watch technically arrived with watchOS 4.1, but there’s been one main obstacle to using it: Actually finding a gym that supports it. Only one fitness center each in Australia and the UK have enabled it so far… One solitary gym in New York City, Life Time Athletic at Sky, now has 13 GymKit-capable machines (including treadmills, bikes, ellipticals and stair steppers) that will pair with your smartwatch.”


NFC World

Apple GymKit with NFC goes live in Australia

GymKit launches today in Australia, automatically sync workout data between Apple Watch and gym equipment — 9to5Mac — “The first gym to feature GymKit-compatible equipment is now up and running in Australia. Users just tap their watches to the treadmill (or other GymKit equipment) using NFC, and they start sending data back and forth automatically… The idea is that the watch and the paired gym machine have better knowledge about different aspects of the workout. GymKit allows that data to be shared back and forth, as appropriate.”


What's New in Payments

Fitbit Pay goes live in Switzerland

Switzerland becomes first European country to allow Visa payments on Fitbit smartwatch — Telecompaper — “Visa is introducing its mobile payment function for the Fitbit smartwatch in Switzerland, the first European country to get the service… To pay with Fitbit Ionic, the Visa card of a partner card issuer must be loaded into the Fitbit companion application. Currently, this is possible for customers of Cornercard. BonusCard and other banks will follow.”







What's New in Payments

WeChat Pay and offline mobile payments see “incredibly high” uptake in China

Tencent China survey

Nine in ten Chinese mobile internet users (92%) choose mobile payment apps such as WeChat Pay as their primary offline payment method today, research released by Tencent Online Media Group’s newly launched research project China Tech Insights reveals, while “smartphone built-in payment tools” such as Apple Pay are currently used by approximately 12%. More



What's New in Payments

IBM’s Watson integrates Visa Token Service to enable tokenized payments on connected devices

IBM Visa

IBM is to integrate Visa Token Service into its Watson IoT cognitive technology platform to enable payments to be embedded into “any device connected to the Internet of Things (IoT)”, with all of IBM’s Watson IoT Platform customers gaining access to Visa payment services via IBM’s cloud service — rather than businesses needing to be approached on a one-by-one basis... More