Swedish sportswear brand Houdini has added an NFC-enabled zipper pull to its latest One Parka waterproof coat that lets consumers who purchase the garment connect with the brand and access use and care guides, support services and other digital features with a tap of their NFC smartphone... More
NFC
Unspent stored value on Starbucks prepaid cards nears US$1.63bn
Starbucks customers have accumulated a total unspent balance of US$1.628bn on the company’s prepaid physical and digital reward and gift cards, the coffee giant’s 2021 Q3 earnings call has revealed... More
Strasbourg rolls out interoperable NFC ticketing for all Android devices
Owners of Android NFC smartphones can now purchase, store and validate digital tickets and monthly or annual passes for buses, trams and other public transportation services in the French city of Strasbourg on their mobile device... More
Oman to make it mandatory for all merchants to accept cashless payments
All merchants and other commercial enterprises across the Sultanate of Oman will be obligated to offer customers the option of making cashless payments for goods and services from 1 January 2022... More
Polish mobile payments service lets users make NFC payments direct from bank account
Consumers in Poland will soon be able to use their Android NFC device to make tokenized contactless payments at the point of sale (POS) directly from their bank account via their mobile banking app without needing a debit or credit card... More
Liverpool Football Club rolls out NFC ticketing for all home games
Fans of Liverpool Football Club in England will be able to gain entry to home games at Anfield Stadium by scanning a digital NFC season pass or match ticket stored on their smartphone at stadium turnstiles... More
Moscow Metro lets passengers top up their Troika transit card from their mobile banking app
Passengers travelling on Moscow Metro can now buy and top up a Troika transit card directly from within their mobile banking app... More
People’s Bank of China issues digital yuan trial progress report
Nearly 21m (20.87m) personal and 3.51m corporate digital yuan wallets have so far been issued during China’s ongoing trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has revealed... More
Digital passport for thoroughbred racehorses rolls out in UK and Ireland
Owners, trainers and breeders of thoroughbred racehorses in the UK and Ireland will soon be able to receive a digital passport that will allow them to confirm the identity of a horse and store information about its health, welfare, movements and ownership... More
European Central Bank officially launches digital euro project
The European Central Bank (ECB) has officially launched its digital euro project with a two-year investigation into key issues regarding the design, distribution and use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Researchers unveil fabric-friendly NFC sensors that track tags, everyday objects — and people
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the US have developed fabric-friendly NFC sensors that can be woven into the surface of everyday objects such as cushions and pillows and enable them to locate other objects and sense a human presence... More
Google lets US Android users make in-store NFC payments from their Google Pay balance
Google Pay users with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone in the US can now request a virtual debit card that allows them to make in-store contactless payments directly from their Google Pay balance... More
Canadian restaurants use NFC to track reusable food containers
Customers ordering takeaway food from eight restaurants in the Canadian city of Waterloo can now opt to receive their order in a reusable and recyclable food container embedded with an NFC tag that allows the service provider to track each container throughout the reuse cycle... More
China to launch digital yuan nationwide after 2022 Winter Olympics?
China could be ready to officially launch the digital yuan as a fully operational central bank digital currency (CBDC) after the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022, according to reports in the Chinese media... More
MTA sees open loop fare payments double as Omny system tops 100m taps
Passengers on New York’s subway and bus services have now tapped their contactless bank card, smartphone or wearable device to pay fares using the Omny open loop fare payment system more than 100m times since its launch in May 2019, double the total of 50m the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) reported in March this year... More
Dutch regulator calls for extra EU rules to ensure payment app access to smartphone NFC technology
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is calling for amendments to current European Union legislation in order to ensure companies such as Apple provide payment apps with access to a smartphone’s NFC chip to give users a choice of in-store payment methods on their device... More
Paco Rabanne launches first NFC-enabled ‘connected fragrance’
Consumers purchasing Paco Rabanne’s latest fragrance for men can access a range of digital content, including information about the product, by tapping an NFC chip embedded in the bottle cap with their smartphone... More
Forecast: Contactless to account for more than half the total value of all POS transactions by 2026
Contactless payments will account for more than half (57%) of the total global value of transactions made at the point of sale (POS) by 2026, compared with just under 25% in 2021, Juniper Research predicts... More
Translink to roll out interoperable fare-capped contactless ticketing across Northern Ireland
Public transport users in Northern Ireland will soon be able to make tap-on-tap-off contactless fare payments on all bus and rail services across the whole province using their debit or credit card or a single transit smartcard... More
SEPTA reveals plans to expand mobile payments for transit ticketing in Philadelphia
South East Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in the US is planning to upgrade or replace its SEPTA Key transit card system in order to offer passengers on its bus, trolley and rail networks in the Greater Philadelphia region a wider range of transit ticketing options... More