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MasterCard Prepares to Offer PayPass on Embedded Chips in Samsung NFC Phones

Published: May 23 2013

MasterCard Worldwide is the latest payment scheme to work with Samsung Electronics, with plans to soon offer its PayPass application for embedded chips in new Samsung NFC phones, NFC Times has learned.

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

Published: May 21 2013

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.

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

Published: May 16 2013

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.

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Gemalto Reveals Some Details of MCX Deal; Vendor Will Earn Fees for Transactions

Published: Apr 25 2013

France-based smart card and security vendor Gemalto will operate the mobile-payment platform for U.S. merchant group MCX, earning a fee for every transaction, in addition to what appears to be a hosting fee it says is worth tens of millions.

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Identive Announces Large Tag Order for Mobile-Retail Application

Published: Apr 23 2013

NFC tag supplier Identive announced it has received orders for 4 million NFC tags to support a retail project in France and a payment and banking project in Africa.

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STMicroelectronics Announces First Design Win for NFC Controller Chip

Published: Apr 22 2013

Chip maker STMicroelectronics has announced its first design win for its NFC controller chip, with small Japan-based device maker NEC Casio.

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U.S. Merchant Group MCX Chooses Gemalto as Wallet Supplier

Published: Apr 17 2013

France-based Gemalto today announced it has been hired by U.S. merchant group MCX to build the group's mobile wallet, which will support payment and other mobile-commerce applications.

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Samsung Chooses Broadcom NFC Chip over NXP; Embedded Strategy Begins to Take Shape

Published: Mar 16 2013

Samsung Electronics has changed NFC technology suppliers for its flagship Galaxy S 4, switching to an NFC controller from Broadcom and a large-memory embedded chip from STMicroelectronics, running software from Oberthur Technologies, NFC Times has learned.

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Gemalto Joins Blue-Chip CAC 40 Index as CEO Piou Cashes in Shares

Published: Dec 27 2012
Dec 29 2012 (All day)

Smart card and security company Gemalto this week joined the CAC 40 index in Paris, which counts as members such blue-chip French companies as Total, BNP Paribas, Carrefour and Airbus jet maker EADS.

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Visa and Samsung Agree to Enable Payment on NFC Embedded Chips; Deal Expected to Bypass Telcos

Published: Feb 26 2013

BARCELONA – Visa and Samsung Electronics have announced a landmark agreement that will see a Visa payWave application preloaded on the embedded secure elements in forthcoming NFC-enabled Samsung devices.

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Profiles

Google

Google, which makes more than 95% of its revenue from Web advertising, sees a major opportunity to use NFC to help it take advantage of its Web search dominance with physical merchants and advertis

Inside Secure

France-based fabless chip supplier Inside Secure, though the end of 2011, was one of only two providers of NFC chips to handset makers, along with NXP Semiconductors. 

Isis

The Isis joint venture, formed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, seeks to use the combined market clout of three major U.S. mobile carriers to roll out NFC phones and services.

Telefónica O2

It seems just a matter of time before Telefónica O2 UK launches NFC commercially.

NXP Semiconductors

Co-creator of NFC with Sony, NXP's partnership with Google announced in late 2010 has given it a dominant position in shipments for NFC chips for Android phones.

Barclaycard

While contactless retail payment in the UK has been slow to take off, don’t blame Barclaycard or its parent Barclays PLC.

Gemalto

Since its creation in 2006 from the merger of the two largest smart card makers at the time, Gemalto has billed itself as “the world leader in digital security.”

Chunghwa Telecom

Taiwan’s largest telco has been one of the major players in the country gearing up for NFC, having held at least three important trials.

JPMorgan Chase

The largest issuer of contactless cards in the U.S. with 30 million deployed since 2005, JPMorgan Chase hasn’t held an NFC trial in a while. Its last public trial with the technology ended in 2006.

Bouygues Telecom

While Bouygues Telecom runs a distant third among mobile operators to its big rivals France Telecom-Orange and Vodafone-affiliated SFR, it punches well above its weight in NFC. 

Veolia Transport

Its planned merger with France-based competitor Transdev, announced in summer 2009, would make big transit operator Veolia Transport even bigger.

SmartTouch

A consortium of 23 organizations in eight countries, SmartTouch studies NFC and helps sponsor trials.

Discover Financial Services

Discover’s Zip contactless application is accepted more than 100,000 merchant locations in the U.S. But until recently, you wouldn't have seen anyone tapping with Zip to pay.

Giesecke & Devrient

German smart card supplier Giesecke & Devrient has been interested in contactless-mobile technology for years.

France Telecom-Orange

France Telecom-Orange devotes considerable resources to NFC and mobile payment at its French and UK offices and R&D centers.

NFC Forum

The most important trade group promoting Near Field Communication, the NFC Forum sets standards for the technology and evangelizes its uses.

Visa Inc. and Visa Europe

The U.S.-based card company Visa Inc. and its separate bank-owned affiliate, Visa Europe, share a brand and intellectual property on contactless payments and NFC.

Nokia

To those who criticize Nokia for the rather bland handsets it has outfitted with NFC and put onto the market, the handset maker responds–with some justification–that it has done more than any other phone maker to advance NFC technology.

MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard spearheaded the move to contactless-card payment in the U.S. with its PayPass technology.

A1

Austria’s largest mobile operator is also a European pioneer in mobile commerce.

More company profiles...

Latest News

Secure Element Issue Weighs on Airline Industry Evaluation of NFC

Published: Mar 8 2013
Mar 8 2013 (All day)

The International Air Transport Association, which represents 240 airlines worldwide, plans to finish its evaluation of NFC technology this year and could propose standards to its members in October, the group has told NFC Times.

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NFC Smartphone Chip Shipments in 2012 Surge Past Projections

Published: Mar 8 2013

NXP Semiconductors shipped 125 million NFC chips in 2012 for smartphones and tablets, the chip maker told NFC Times, beating projections for the NFC device market.

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MasterCard’s First Latin American NFC Trial Expected to Lead to 2013 Rollout

Published: Mar 7 2013

A MasterCard NFC payment pilot in Brazil, launched last week with Itaú bank, mobile operator TIM Brasil, point-of-sale terminal supplier Redecard, and France-based Gemalto, is expected to lead to a full rollout of mobile PayPass services in Brazil.

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Inside Secure to Cut up to 20% of Its Workforce To Stem Losses

Published: Mar 7 2013
Mar 7 2013 (All day)

France-based NFC chip supplier Inside Secure said it would cut up to 20% of its global workforce following the loss of more than $30 million in 2012.

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Google Becomes Member of NFC Forum Board

Published: Mar 5 2013

Google has upgraded its membership in the NFC Forum standards and trade group to the top rung, sponsor member, giving the search giant a seat on the 13-member board.

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Norwegian Telco and Bank Latest to Announce Plans to Try NFC Payment

Published: Mar 3 2013

Norway’s largest telco, Telenor, and its biggest bank, DNB, plan to launch their planned NFC-enabled wallet commercially before the end of the year, the telco told NFC Times.

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Visa and Samsung Agree to Enable Payment on NFC Embedded Chips; Deal Expected to Bypass Telcos

Published: Feb 26 2013

BARCELONA – Visa and Samsung Electronics have announced a landmark agreement that will see a Visa payWave application preloaded on the embedded secure elements in forthcoming NFC-enabled Samsung devices.

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Orange Releases Results of NFC Transit Ticketing Trial in Spain

Published: Feb 22 2013

More than 100 users in a 10-month trial of NFC transit ticketing in Málaga, Spain, tapped for a total of 7,500 rides and got information from smart posters at bus stops more than 3,000 times, France Telecom-Orange has announced.

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Norway’s Largest Telco and Bank to Launch NFC Commercially

Published: Feb 21 2013

Norway’s largest mobile operator and its biggest bank plan to announce plans next week to commercially launch NFC payments, NFC Times has learned.

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Isis to Change Wallet Design; Hires New Wallet App Developer

Published: Feb 21 2013

The Isis mobile operator joint venture plans to introduce a new design for its mobile wallet and is changing the supplier of its device software, NFC Times has learned.

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MasterCard to Focus on ‘Digital Convergence’ as It Revamps Mobile-Payments Effort

Published: Feb 21 2013

MasterCard Worldwide is reorganizing its mobile-payments effort and team, planning to focus on what it calls “digital convergence,” with the aim of “enabling every connected device to be a commerce device,” NFC Times has learned.

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Orange Launches Contest for NFC Application Developers

Published: Feb 21 2013

Mobile operator France Telecom-Orange has launched an NFC awards contest for developers, seeking to spur developers to create innovative NFC applications for the French market. 

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Dutch Banks Form Group to Launch Large NFC Payment Pilot

Published: Feb 20 2013

The three major banks in the Netherlands, ING, ABN AMRO and Rabobank, have formed a temporary group to launch a large NFC trial in the Dutch city of Leiden with mobile operator KPN.

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CaixaBank, Telefónica to Trial NFC Payment Again at Mobile World Congress; Part of ‘NFC Experience’

Published: Feb 20 2013

Spain’s CaixaBank, mobile operator Telefónica and Visa Europe, along with technology vendor Gemalto, plan to demonstrate NFC payment at next week’s big Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

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Visa Gearing Up For NFC Launches in UK, Working with Banks and Telcos

Published: Feb 15 2013
Feb 15 2013 (All day)

Visa is reportedly gearing up to support a “mainstream launch” of NFC mobile payments, along with a cloud-based digital wallet, according to Marc O’Brien, managing director of Visa UK and Ireland.

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Visa: Contactless Transactions in UK to Grow Fourfold This Year; Though Base Remains Small

Published: Feb 14 2013

Visa Europe predicts the UK will have 34 million contactless Visa-branded cards on issue and 175,000 contactless terminals deployed by the end of 2013, with Europe reaching 70 million Visa-branded contactless cards and 650,000 contactless terminals this year.

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Clear Channel to Launch Its Permanent NFC Outdoor Advertising Panels in March

Published: Feb 13 2013

Large outdoor media company Clear Channel will commercially launch its NFC-enabled outdoor advertising network in major cities in the UK in March.

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MasterCard Reports 700,000 Merchants Worldwide Accepting PayPass

Published: Feb 8 2013

Merchant locations accepting PayPass cards and applications on mobile devices stood at nearly 700,000 globally at the end of 2012, MasterCard Worldwide announced this week.

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Isis Seeks to Speed Adoption of Wallet in Salt Lake City with Free Rides

Published: Feb 6 2013
Feb 6 2013 (All day)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Isis Mobile Wallet users in and around Salt Lake City are tapping for transit fares with their NFC-enabled mobile phones more than 600 times a day and that number is climbing, said the Utah Transit Authority.

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Secure MicroSD Venture Led by Giesecke & Devrient Liquidates

Published: Feb 2 2013

Germany-based smart card company Giesecke & Devrient and Taiwan-based flash memory chip supplier Phison Electronics have dissolved their joint venture that had targeted the market for microSD cards to store mobile-payment applications.

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NXP CEO: ‘We Know We’re Going to Have More Competition’

Published: Jan 31 2013

NXP Semiconductors said today it generated about $70 million in sales from its NFC chips and secure elements in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 20% over the previous quarter and three times the chip maker’s NFC revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011.

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BlackBerry Maker Unveils First BlackBerry 10 Devices with NFC Technology

Published: Jan 31 2013

Research In Motion has unveiled its new NFC-enabled BlackBerry 10 operating system and the first two devices running the software, along with a new corporate name.

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Czech Telco and Bank Launch NFC Payments Service with PayPass

Published: Jan 31 2013

Telefónica Czech Republic has launched NFC payments with GE Money Bank and MasterCard Worldwide, making it the first Telefónica group operator to commercialize NFC.

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T-Mobile Poland: 5,500 Registered Users for NFC after Two Months

Published: Jan 29 2013

T-Mobile Poland confirmed it had signed up 5,500 “users” for its NFC-enabled wallet as of early January, a little more than two months after launching the service.

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NFC Forum Introduces Special Interest Groups for Key Markets

Published: Jan 25 2013

The NFC Forum has announced the formation of five special interest groups, which will promote NFC rollouts in payment, retail, transport, health care, and consumer electronics.

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