Curve digital wallet users across Europe can now add multiple payment cards to a range of wearable NFC devices including rings, bracelets, watches and pens and use them to make contactless payments via the Fidesmo Pay wearable payments platform... More
Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village... More
Customers of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) can now open a prepaid card account that enables their children to make contactless in-store payments with an NFC-enabled wristband and allows parents to digitally issue allowances and monitor transactions... More
PARTNER NEWS: India’s Axis Bank has launched a range of wearable contactless payment devices using technology provided by Thales and Tappy Technologies... More
PARTNER NEWS: Employers can now provide their staff with a wearable wristband that uses continuous biometric authentication to enable them to securely gain hands-free access to buildings, devices and computer networks throughout the working day... More
Global shipments of wearable devices will reach a total of 396m units this year and increase to 637.1m in 2024, with the proportion of those offering support for contactless payments set to rise to nearly 50% by the end of the year, International Data Corp (IDC) predicts... More
Staff in Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) are testing an NFC wristband that has been developed to track Covid-19 patients and people who are self-quarantining in a bid to control the spread of infection... More
The market for payment-enabled wearable devices will reach US$7.2bn in 2024, “driven by a surge in contactless payment adoption, as a result of growing usage of contactless cards and near field communication (NFC)-enabled mobile payments,” ABI Research predicts.... More
Customers of Belgium’s KBC bank can now add their debit card to their choice of a range of wearables and then use their new ring, watch, keyring or bracelet to make payments at any merchant equipped to accept contactless payments... More
PARTNER NEWS: HID Global has announced that employee ID card issuers can now use its Seos digital credential technology to let staff use smart watches, watchbands, rings and other devices to gain access to buildings, log in to PCs and cloud applications, make payments at vending machines, and more... More
Virgin Voyages is to issue contactless wristbands to its cruise passengers, enabling them “to not only unlock their cabin with ease, but also to explore all of the thrills and great experiences that Scarlet Lady and the rest of our fleet will have to offer”... More
While health applications continue to be the main consumer adoption driver for wrist-worn wearables, support for mobile payments “is also starting to become a mainstay,” according to new research from IDC... More
Barclays has opened an online store which will offer users of its Pingit mobile payments service a wide range of wearable payments devices, including watches, jewellery, wristbands and key fobs... More
Kenyan social enterprise Food for Education is speeding up the rollout of its Tap2Eat NFC cash replacement system for subsidised school meals following a successful pilot in three primary schools in Nairobi involving 150 students... More
Wearable-only payments are being introduced at three of the bars at Melbourne’s Albert Park race track for this year’s Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, with plans to expand the service to the entire event in subsequent years... More
PARTNER NEWS: Hong Kong-based Tappy Technologies offers a range of wearable payments products including watch straps, wristbands and key fobs that come with an embedded contactless payment chip... More
Customers of Dutch bank ABN Amro can now connect a wide range of Mastercard-certified wearables to their bank account and use them to make both standard, low value contactless payments and also, by entering a PIN at the point of sale, higher value transactions beyond the contactless limit as well... More
People already scalping TransLink’s Compass Wristbands online — CTV News — “People ended up queuing up down the block when the wearable technology went on sale at 7:30 am, and it only took about three hours for TransLink to sell out. ‘I’ve gotta say, this is a little more than we expected,’ spokesperson Jill Drews said. ‘But it’s great. We’re glad people love the wristbands’.”
Introducing Compass Wristbands — TransLink — “To help improve customer convenience, we’re introducing Compass Wristbands — a Compass Card that you wear on your wrist! We’re offering a limited release of 1,000 adult wristbands and 1,000 concession wristbands starting December 3… Tap in and out when travelling on transit and reload online, at a Compass vending machine, by phone or in person. Just like a Compass Card, you’ll pay a $6 refundable fee when you pick up your wristband.”
This tech nonprofit Is trying to help homeless people get IDs — Motherboard — “Mini City distributed 500 NFC-enabled wristbands — similar to FitBits or Nike FuelBands — to expand its services to Atlanta’s homeless. Each wearable holds an identifier number given to homeless citizens when they begin the process of obtaining a government ID. Users unlock Mini City’s app by tapping the wristband on a tablet at Salvation Army and other nonprofits like ReStart Atlanta — allowing them to book shelter beds, find nearby employment and medical resources, and check the status of their ID applications.”
