HEADLINE NEWS

UK Taxis Get NFC Tags for Promo Campaign; NFC Dynamic Screens to Play at French Sporting Event

Samsung Electronics, along with Australia-based NFC marketing firm Tapit, UK-based out-of-home advertising company Chiel and terminal vendor VeriFone are rolling out NFC stickers to 80 taxis in the UK, as part of a promotional campaign for musician Robbie Williams’ upcoming Samsung-sponsored tour.

OTI to Supply Contactless and NFC Readers for Gasoline Stations in North America

Israel-based contactless and NFC vendor On Track Innovations announced Monday it had received an order for 30,000 readers for point-of-sale terminals at retail gasoline stations in North America.

Taxis in Major U.S. Cities to Get NFC-Enabled Video Ads

Riders in 5,000 taxicabs in the U.S. would be able to tap on NFC tags on video advertising screens to download apps, brand information, coupons, maps, music and videos, according to technology suppliers that have equipped the taxis for potential advertising campaigns.

Royal Bank of Canada and Bell Mobility Announce Plans for NFC Launch

May 14 2013 (All day)

Canada’s largest bank and one of its three major mobile operators have announced plans to commercially launch NFC payments by the end of the year, following a trial this summer.

Analyst: Banks Have More to Fear from Cloud-Based Technologies Than NFC

Banks have much more to fear from cloud-based mobile payment than from NFC, even if mobile operators control the secure elements that hold the banks’ payment applications.

GSMA Proposes Global Standard for NFC-Enabled Loyalty and Couponing–Using SIM Cards

May 10 2013 (All day)

The GSMA mobile operator trade group is proposing a global standard for how point-of-sale terminals talk to NFC-enabled mobile wallets to enable consumers to redeem coupons and rewards.

Taiwanese Bank Gets Approval for NFC-Enabled Credit Cards; Okay for Other Banks Expected

Taiwanese banking regulators, as expected, have approved the first bank to issue mobile credit cards that could be downloaded over the air to SIM cards.

Google Wallet Chief Bedier Departs Company as Wallet Continues to Struggle

May 13 2013 (All day)

Google’s vice president of wallet and payments has left the company, following a difficult tenure for the former PayPal executive, who had tried to establish the Google Wallet for physical world payments and offers.

UK Retailer Marks & Spencer Sees Growing Use of Contactless

Marks & Spencer, one of the UK’s largest retailers, announced today it had rolled out contactless payment to 644 of its UK stores and said 14% of its card transactions under £20 (US$30.97) are contactless.

Identive Reports Growing NFC Business; Blames Flat Sales, Losses, on U.S. Budget Cuts

U.S.-based Identive Group reported growing NFC and smart card reader business, but fell back into the red during for the first quarter, a loss it largely blamed on U.S. federal government budget cuts.

German Bank and Telco Hold Small NFC Trial; Larger Launches Planned in Country This Year

As Germany gears up for NFC, German bank Dortmunder Volksbank along with Telefónica (O2) Germany have launched a small pilot putting a credit application onto SIM cards in Western Germany.

Cashless Technology Company Announces Rollout of Isis SmartTap on Vending Machines

Vending technology company USA Technologies plans to integrate the SmartTap mobile-commerce software into all of the company’s nearly 100,000 NFC-enabled terminals on vending machines nationwide.

Motorola Announces Three NFC-Enabled Phones for U.S. Carrier Verizon

Motorola Mobility has launched three NFC-enabled Android phones, as part of its Droid Razr family, all exclusively available on U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless.

Motorola, a unit of Google, and Verizon announced the phones today, all of which will support Verizon’s 4G LTE network and will run Android 4.0, known as Ice Cream Sandwich. Verizon noted that the phones would enable customers to “send contacts, links, maps and more directly to compatible phones with Android Beam.”

Android Beam is Google’s enhanced peer-to-peer communication service using NFC technology that the Web giant introduced for Android 4.0.

Verizon said the first of the phones, the Droid Razr M, would be available today for $99 after $50 mail in rebate for a two-year contract.

The phone, which had been known as the Scorpion Mini, was certified last month for NFC payment by Visa Inc. This would mean Verizon could press the phone into service for the Isis Wallet, which will be trialed starting next month.

MasterCard Worldwide has certified at least two phones for Verizon to support Isis, the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE and Samsung Galaxy S III. The Samsung phone is also likely to be used by the other Isis joint venture partners, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA.

The other two Motorola phones announced today, the Droid Razr HD and long-battery life Droid Razr Maxx HD, would be available before the holidays, said Verizon.

The phones follow announcement by U.S. carrier Sprint in July of Motorola's first commercial NFC phone, the Photon Q 4G LTE.

Verizon also announced an NFC-enabled tablet-smartphone hybrid Tuesday, the Intuition from LG Electronics. The device also goes by the name, Optimus Vu.

Verizon said it would put the Intuition on sale starting Thursday. The device will come with the LG Tag+ app and two reprogrammable NFC tags, noted the telco.

“That can be used to create and switch between different phone modes with a single tap,” Verizon said in the announcement. “For example, the stickers can be posted onto an office door or bedroom nightstand and customers simply tap the NFC sticker with their phone to activate a mode and tap it again to return to their original settings.

Verizon noted the modes are “customizable,” including “Car Mode, Office Mode, Sleep Mode and User Mode.”