Hotel chain Residence Inn by Marriott is to pilot image recognition and augmented reality technology that will allow guests to scan beverage coasters to access interactive experiences, including games and food and drink suggestions, on their smartphones... More
Pilot
Facebook expands free Bluetooth beacon program
Facebook is offering free Bluetooth beacons to select businesses across the US that will enable them to send “useful and relevant” information to customers about the places they visit... More
NBO first to pilot contactless in Oman
National Bank of Oman (NBO) has become the first in the country to launch a contactless card pilot, in partnership with MasterCard... More
Gazprombank pilots NFC tickets
Russia’s Gazprombank and MasterCard are piloting NFC mobile and contactless card payments for transit fares using PayPass terminals across the K-39 bus route in St Petersburg... More
Google demonstrates how Android Pay will work
Google has demonstrated how its Android Pay mobile payments service will work for making in-store and in-app purchases, for payments made through a banking partner mobile app, and how users will be able to pay for items such as a Coca-Cola from a vending machine using just the points stored in a customer loyalty account. More
Google to trial hands-free mobile payments
Google has announced it will pilot a new payment service in the San Francisco Bay area later this year that will let users make hands-free, in-store mobile payments without having to get their phone out of their pocket... More
Carrefour uses LED lighting to send offers to shoppers in stores
French supermarket giant Carrefour is piloting an LED in-store lighting system in its Lille hypermarket that sends location-based services, offers and promotions to a shopper’s smartphone anywhere across the 7,800 square metre shop floor... More
Danske Bank pilots Zwipe biometric cards
Denmark’s Danske Bank has become the latest financial institution to pilot a contactless biometric card developed by Norway-based Zwipe that features an integrated fingerprint sensor and has received the backing of MasterCard... More
BPCE to pilot cards with mini-screen security codes
France’s second largest banking group BPCE is to pilot a payment card that replaces the three-figure security code on the back of the card with a mini-screen that displays a code which automatically changes periodically... More
Exterion to roll out beacons across public transport in the UK
Out-of-home media owner Exterion Media UK is to roll out Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons across public transport services in “major cities” in the UK to deliver marketing messages to passengers’ smartphones... More
Starbucks opens express store with mobile POS ordering
Visitors to Starbucks’ newly opened express store on Wall Street in New York are being met by one of the coffee chain’s employees upon entry, who then takes their order using a handheld device... More
Saracens fans get contactless payment wristbands
Supporters of Saracens rugby union club have been given prepaid contactless wristbands that let them pay for food and drink with a tap at the club’s Allianz Park stadium in north London, as well make payments outside the venue and travel on the city’s public transport network... More
NFC gets top marks for helping Barcelona kids get to school
Six schools in Barcelona are issuing contactless cards to students who use public transport so that parents can track them on their journey to school and be notified when their child has arrived safely... More
NFC ticketing trial eliminates “did I touch out?” doubt
An NFC transport ticketing trial in the Netherlands will allow passengers to see on their phones if they have correctly checked themselves on or off the service as they travel, avoiding the risk of paying too much for their journeys... More
Sabadell HCE wallet to go live in July
Spain’s Banco Sabadell is to make its HCE-based mobile payments service, developed in partnership with MasterCard, available to customers in July... More
French banks begin HCE payments pilot
BNP Paribas, Groupe BPCE, La Banque Postale and Société Générale have begun piloting HCE mobile payment services with Visa Europe and payment and transaction services provider Worldline... More
NFC wristbands to help swimmers track performance
Swimmers will soon be able to use NFC wristbands to set up personal training regimes and measure their performance in the pool... More
ANZ to add HCE payments to mobile banking app
ANZ Bank New Zealand is to add NFC mobile payments to its popular goMoney mobile banking app later this year... More
Finnish banks add HCE payments to Pivo mobile wallet
Finland’s largest financial services group is to add support for HCE payments to the mobile wallet app it introduced two years ago... More
Visa Europe expands on customised tokenization plans, will go live mid-April
“Tokenization does a couple of things brilliantly; one is it really helps on facilitating innovation, facilitating the use, for example, of mobile phones for payments,” Visa Europe’s Sandra Alzetta told NFC World following the payment network’s announcement of plans to launch a customised tokenization platform to European banks in April... More