Italian jewellery brand Bulgari will enter the luxury smartwatch market next year when it launches the NFC-enabled Diagono Magnesium watch – allowing users to make contactless payments, access personal data, as well as unlocking doors at home, at work, or on their own car or yacht... More
Swatch will launch its first watch containing an NFC chip within two months, CEO Nick Hayek has announced — and deals signed with China UnionPay as well as one other payments network mean that owners will be able to use their watch to make payments around the world... More
Customers at a Carrefour hypermarket in Paris are now able to use their smartwatch to access their digital shopping list, tick off items as they go and receive loyalty points when they check out... More
Australian mobile network Optus has shown off a prototype watch that can be used to make contactless payments as an extension of its Cash by Optus prepaid NFC payment app... More
Lloyds Bank is to start sending push notifications about special deals with selected retailers to customers’ smartwatches and smartphones... More
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group is to launch a smartwatch that includes NFC and mobile payments capabilities and works with both Android and Windows phones, CEO Nick Hayek has told Bloomberg... More
Audi has shown off a smartwatch that can be used to communicate with and unlock a car via NFC at the CES in Las Vegas... More
Carnegie Mellon University’s Future Interfaces Group has developed a system that will allow smartwatches to laser project icons representing device functions or notifications for missed calls and messages onto the wearer’s skin... More
Apple plans to include NFC in a new smartwatch that will be unveiled on 9 September, as well as in the next iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reports, “signaling that it sees a role for the device in digital payments.” NFC “is central to Apple’s plans to offer so-called tap-to-pay into its mobile devices, allowing users to pay for goods and services using credit cards stored with iTunes,” the report adds... More
Card management app Wallaby, which helps holders of multiple credit cards view their balances and decide which is the best to use for any given transaction, is now available for use on Samsung Gear 2 smartwatches... More
Japan Airlines staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport are being provided with smartwatches that work in conjunction with Bluetooth Low Energy beacons, to give management a way to assign staff more efficiently and respond more swiftly to customer requests. More
Crowdfunding is being sought for an NFC-enabled smartwatch that features iris recognition technology, letting wearers identify themselves and unlock services using their unique biometric data... More
CaixaBank has become the first in Europe to launch a Visa-branded wristband that allows users to make contactless payments at locations equipped with a contactless POS terminal... More
The next generation of Android, unveiled at the Google I/O developer conference, will offer mobile payments, banking and commerce providers a wide range of new functions... More
Hospitality technology startup Mahana has introduced a customer service platform that gives hotel and casino staff a way to improve customer service by accessing guest information on the go... More
As speculation builds for the likely launch of the Google Nexus 5 and new Android KitKat operating system later this month, rumours suggest Google could also unveil a smartwatch and NFC ring. More
Samsung has unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphone, the Note 3, an NFC-enabled handset with a 5.7-inch full HD Amoled display and 13 megapixel camera which can capture 1080p video at 60 frames per second... More
Samsung’s long rumoured smartwatch may be unveiled as early as next month and could boast NFC as one of its many features... More
