Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu is to introduce a wide range of smartphones and tablets with both NFC and biometric security capabilities, according to a Financial Times report... More
Security
Telefonica picks Sybase 365 for mobile wallet rollout
The telecoms giant has chosen the SAP subsidiary to provide a mobile wallet solution that it will begin introducing in Europe and Latin America during the first half of 2012. More
Google Wallet faces its second hack of the week
The latest Google Wallet hack is the first to impact users of stock Android phones and allows anyone who obtains a lost or stolen device which does not have a screen lock set up to gain access to and spend the owner’s prepaid card balance. More
Arm to add NFC mobile wallet support
Mobile phone chip leader Arm is working with Proxama to create secure future payment mechanisms for mobile handsets, the UK-based NFC specialist has announced... More
GlobalPlatform explains TEE
GlobalPlatform is to publish a series of guides that aim to explain in simple terms the technology developments it is working on and how they will benefit the industry... More
Four in five major airlines plan to use NFC by 2014
Nearly 80% of the world’s top 50 airlines say they plan to be providing NFC services in three years’ time, according to a survey conducted by airline IT provider Sita, but there are technical challenges that still need to be resolved before NFC mobile boarding passes can become the norm. More
Researcher hacks Google Wallet PIN on rooted Android phone
Zvelo engineer Joshua Rubin has released details of a security vulnerability in rooted Android phones running Google Wallet... 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
FTC looks into mobile payments
The US Federal Trade Commission is inviting comments from industry representatives, consumer groups, technology providers and academics ahead of a mobile payments workshop it will host in Washington, DC on 26 April. More
Marketing to fix security worries
A survey conducted by the GSM Association’s Mobile Money Live website has found that spending money on marketing is seen by most readers as the way to address user fears about NFC security... More
GlobalPlatform and SIMalliance team up on NFC apps
GlobalPlatform and SIMalliance have announced they are to work together to create a standard way for mobile app developers to securely include calls to NFC secure elements from within their programs... More
US consumers “warming up to mobile payments”
23% of US consumers are now “very willing” to use their mobile phone as a wallet, a KPMG survey has found, but many consumers are still expressing privacy and security concerns. More
Security researchers raise Google Wallet concerns
The amount of unencrypted data stored by the Google Wallet app “surpasses what we believe most consumers find acceptable,” says digital forensics specialist viaForensics in a report on the security of the search giant’s NFC wallet — but no access to the secure element was gained. More
IBM to develop NFC payments solutions in Moscow
The computer giant has partnered with Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation to create a Science and Technology Center that will work on intelligent operations, technology for the oil and gas industry and on “the creation of security-rich and customizable mobile payment transactions for use across a number of industries including telco, retail and banking.” More
Absa begins South Africa’s first NFC pilot
The trial will see five hundred bank staff using BlackBerry NFC smartphones to make MasterCard PayPass payments, and the technology used will in future also support the country’s national transportation ticketing technology. More
Verizon and Google fire first shots in the mobile wallet wars
“Recent reports that Verizon is blocking Google Wallet on our devices are false,” says Verizon. “We are continuing our commercial discussions with Google on this issue.” More
KPMG reports on consumer attitudes to mobile
A new survey from KPMG has found that 41% of shoppers now use their phone to research products and services in-store and consumers are increasingly willing to share data with advertisers if it saves them money — but concerns over mobile payments security and privacy issues remain. More
Korea to eliminate paper receipts with NFC
Telecoms research institute ETRI has established a standard way for Korean merchants to deliver receipts to NFC mobile phones, allowing stores to cut out the need to print paper sales slips. More
SIMalliance releases new version of Open Mobile API
The new version of the Open Mobile API is designed to enable app developers to work easily with the secure elements in mobile phones — without needing specialist knowledge of how the technology works. More
Survey reports on consumer attitudes to next-gen loyalty
“There is undoubtedly consumer appetite for using new technologies when the benefits are made clear,” says Ipsos Mori boss Simon Atkinson. “For consumers who are worried about embracing technology changes, and the older generation in particular, the answer is likely to lie in offering existing services in tandem with new.” More