A US startup is taking pre-orders for a biometrically secured mobile wallet, consisting of a payment app and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based “bio-sticker” attached to the back of the user’s phone... More
Wearables
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
LoopPay signs up OEMs to embed contactless tech into more products
Mobile payments startup LoopPay has announced deals with XPal Power and Trident Case to embed its Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) mag stripe emulation technology into a broad range of products including smartphones, wearables, cases and accessories, with “many other partners in the pipeline.”... More
VivaLnk shows wearable NFC thermometer
Digital tattoo inventor Vivalnk is to launch an NFC-based wearable thermometer that adheres to skin and provides accurate temperature measurements directly to a smartphone without requiring a battery... More
Barclaycard tests contactless payment gloves
Barclaycard has begun ‘testing’ woollen gloves that can be used to make payments at any of the 300,000 contactless POS terminals in the UK with a touch of a hand... More
TI offers NFC sensors
Texas Instruments has introduced an integrated NFC sensor transponder that combines an ISO 15693 compliant NFC interface with a programmable microcontroller, non-volatile FRAM, an analog-to-digital converter and SPI and I2C interface... 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
MasterCard and Visa to create new security standard to replace passwords for online payments
MasterCard is working with Visa to create a new authentication standard for online payments that will gradually replace the 3D Secure protocol with “invisible authentication”, far fewer prompts for passwords and support for a range of biometric technologies... More
Kili acquires NFC microSD pioneer DeviceFidelity
NFC-on-microSD pioneer DeviceFidelity has been acquired by Kili Technology, a payments processing solution provider which launched an mPOS “solution-on-a-chip” range last month... 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
Starbucks to accept Microsoft Band wearable payments
Starbucks is to begin accepting payments from customers wearing the new Microsoft Band smart bracelet... More
Canadian banks pilot biometric wristband payments
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), MasterCard and other Canadian issuing banks have begun pilot testing an NFC version of Nymi, a biometrically authenticated wristband that uses the wearer’s unique cardiac rhythm to verify their identity. More
BKM adds Google Glass payment
Turkish card payment system operator BKM has begun testing payments with Google Glass through its BKM Express digital wallet solution... 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
Acer Pay is on the way
Taiwanese computer maker Acer is to join Apple and Samsung in introducing a payment service for users of its mobile phones and wearable devices, Want China Times reports... More
23% of Canadians have made a mobile payment
Almost a quarter of Canadians (23%) have now made a mobile payment in-store with nearly a third (29%) having used their device to make an online purchase, new research from PayPal Canada has found... More
Bionym begins shipping wristband
Canadian startup Bionym has begun shipping its Nymi wristband to partners and key developers after starting to take pre-orders in September last year... More
CaixaBank rolls out contactless wristbands across Spain
Spain’s CaixaBank is making contactless wristbands available to customers at all of its branches, enabling customers to make payments at any of the more than 300,000 contactless terminals in Spain by simply touching the band to a merchant’s POS device... More