Samsung managing director Park Jin-young hinted during the company’s first quarter earnings call that the forthcoming Samsung Pay system may also work with its smartwatches... More
Smartwatch
Kairos mechanical smartwatches get NFC payments
Luxury watchmaker Kairos is to add NFC payments to its hybrid “mechanical smartwatches” and smart wristbands using a host card emulation-based wearable payments solution from German payments technology provider Wirecard... More
Bulgari unveils luxury NFC smartwatch
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 CEO discusses NFC watch plans
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
Carrefour extends grocery shopping to smartwatches
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
Optus shows off wearable payments
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
New Pebble could offer NFC strap
Watch maker Pebble has smashed through a US$500,000 crowdfunding target, raising nearly $16m in a matter of days to produce its new Pebble Time smart watch with a colour display... More
LG smart watch to offer NFC payments
An LTE-equipped variant of LG‘s new luxury smart watch will offer NFC mobile payment functionality, reports Engadget... More
Lloyds Bank to push customer rewards to mobile phones and smartwatches
Lloyds Bank is to start sending push notifications about special deals with selected retailers to customers’ smartwatches and smartphones... More
Liber8 raises funds for e-ink bracelet that uses NFC to change designs
A bracelet that combines an e-ink display with NFC to let the wearer change its design by simply selecting an image on a mobile app and tapping their smartphone against the bracelet has beaten its fundraising target on Indiegogo and is now set to go into production... More
Swatch to launch NFC smartwatch
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 unlocks car with NFC smartwatch
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
Scotiabank adds smartwatch app
Canada’s Scotiabank has launched a Quick Balance app for the Samsung Gear 2 and Samsung Gear S smartwatches that lets customers check their account balance with a swipe of the screen... More
White paper quantifies consumer attitudes to wearable payments
A white paper examining the attitudes of consumers to using smartwatches and other wearables for payments, ticketing and other applications is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre... More
Paris restaurant equips waiters with wearables that alert them when orders are ready
Waiters in a Paris restaurant have been equipped with mobile phones that let them take orders on the go — and smartwatches that let bartenders and kitchen staff alert them when an order is ready to be served, avoiding delays and improving service times. More
Nationwide adds wearable banking
Customers of the UK’s Nationwide bank can now see their account balance in real time on an Android Wear smartwatch... More
Watchdata launches wearables that support NFC payments
Singapore-based Watchdata Technologies has unveiled Sharkey, a wearable device that supports NFC payments and comes in two form factors — a smartwatch or a wristband... More
604m will have biometric wearables by 2019
There will be 604m users of wearable biometric technology globally by 2019, a new report from Goode Intelligence forecasts... More
Researchers show off ‘skin buttons’ for smartwatches
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
Samsung and PayPal to offer smartwatch payments
Samsung is working on a smartwatch that will include biometric verification and support for PayPal payments and location-based offers, reports Business Korea... More