BNZ and Vodafone have begun a three month NFC payments pilot in New Zealand... More
Mobile wallet
Proxama launches NFC payment testing kit
“With our unique kit, vendors and card issuers will now be able to see for themselves how NFC contactless payments will impact on their customers,” says Proxama CEO Neil Garner. More
Mobey Forum wants open wallets
“Mobey Forum strongly believes in and promotes the concept of the mobile wallet as an open platform rather than a system limited to the provider’s partnerships,” says the mobile financial services association in a new white paper (PDF) which calls for ownership of a mobile wallet to reside with the end user... More
O2 expands Pilsen NFC project
Telefonica Czech Republic has launched the final phase of its two-year NFC trial in the city of Pilsen... More
Three takes fight against UK NFC joint venture to Europe
The planned joint venture between the UK’s three leading mobile network operators is “anti-competitive and akin to a joint selling arrangement,” says Three UK, which was not invited to take part in establishing the new NFC service provider. More
Swedish MNOs form payments JV
Swedish mobile operators Telia, Tele2, Telenor and 3 have formed a mobile payments joint venture... More
Visa unveils V.me wallet brand
The payments giant’s digital wallet is to be called ‘V.me’ and will launch in 2012 as a payment system for online transactions, with NFC at the point of sale and targeted rewards, offers and coupons set to follow. More
Consumer education needed ‘to dispel myths surrounding NFC’
A survey of UK consumers conducted for Gemalto has found that a third of Brits would use NFC services — if they understood the technology better and knew it was completely secure. More
Survey: 40% of merchants need to be equipped for contactless payments to take off
The tipping point for consumers to begin using contactless payments technologies will be when at least 40% of merchants are equipped with compatible POS terminals, according to a survey by First Data which also found that banks are the trusted and preferred provider for mobile wallet solutions. More
Atria launches first NFC-enabled book
The first 1,000 copies of a The Impulse Economy: Understanding Mobile Shoppers and What Makes Them Buy, a new book by Gary Schwartz, chairman of the US chapter of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) and CEO of Impact Mobile, are to ship with NFC stickers on their front covers... More
ABI: Four in ten NFC phones to have multiple secure elements
Of the 552m NFC handsets set to ship in 2016, 227m will feature more than one secure element, according to a new forecast from ABI Research, pushing the value of the NFC chip market that year to more than US$1bn. More
Hungary confirms NFC for 2012
The Hungarian mWallet Association, an alliance between Magyar Telekom, Telenor, Vodafone, MasterCard, OTP Bank and SuperShop, has confirmed plans for a commercial launch of NFC-based mobile wallet services in 2012... More
17% of Brits ready for NFC
New UK consumer research from Intersperience has found that 17% want to use a mobile wallet in the future but 44% are worried about a lack of security software on mobile phones... More
Canadians cool on Google Wallet
In a poll on consumer attitudes to Google Wallet, 31% of Canadians said they would “never use it” and 33% said “I may or may not use it.” One in ten surveyed by Delvinia’s AskingCanadians online research panel for ITBusiness.ca said they will use the search giant’s mobile wallet as soon as it’s available and 25% said they could see themselves using it eventually... More
Eight NFC products reach finals of Sesames awards
Finalists for the annual Cartes trade show awards include Taiwan-based Go-Trust, developer of a single wire protocol compliant NFC microSD card. More
Leading handset makers announce support for Isis
HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Samsung Mobile and Sony Ericsson as well as MicroSD device maker DeviceFidelity have agreed to implement Isis NFC and technology standards. More
Dutch bank and supermarket test NFC payments
Rabobank and Albert Heijn, the Netherlands’ largest supermarket chain, are running an NFC payments pilot at a store in Amsterdam. More
One in three Canadians ready to use bank-issued mobile wallets
A new survey has found that a third of Canadians would use a mobile wallet if it was provided to them by their bank — but there is less interest in mobile wallets provided by other potential types of issuer. More
Three: UK mobile operators’ NFC joint venture “raises serious competition concerns”
“Competition authorities in Brussels should not allow this type [of] collaboration to go forward under any circumstances,” says Three, which was not invited to be part of the UK project. “We’re asking the Commission to take a clear view of what is at stake for consumers and the dangerous precedent this move could set across Europe.” More
US telcos to invest $100m+ in Isis NFC venture?
US mobile network operators AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile are planning to invest more than US$100m in their Isis NFC joint venture, Bloomberg reports, citing “people with knowledge of the project.”... More