Karsten Ottenberg, who played a key role in companies launching NFC technology the past 10 years, has resigned as CEO of Germany-based Giesecke & Devrient, a major smart card vendor and trusted service manager.
Five banks in Taiwan are expected to receive approval from regulators by next month that would allow them to issue mobile credit cards that could be downloaded over the air to SIM cards in NFC phones.
Turkish mobile operator Turkcell has introduced the first mass-transit application for its Turkcell Wallet, enabling bus riders in the Southeastern Turkish city of Şanlıurfa to top up their transit accounts from the wallet and to tap to pay fares if they have NFC phones.
Video game retailer Codemasters Japan is rolling out NFC-enabled tags on game packages in Codemasters Japan retail outlets, Australia-based NFC tag marketing company Tapit has announced.
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.
Japan’s Sony Corp. is producing millions of NFC tags for the company’s consumer electronics devices and accessories, following the introduction by Sony of its NFC-based One-touch connectivity feature, a representative told NFC Times.
Japan Airlines plans to expand its use of NFC for boarding and other services at domestic airports this year, while U.S.-based United Airlines is sticking with mobile bar codes, at least for now, considering that 80% of the users of its mobile apps carry iPhones.
SIM manufacturers shipped 30 million NFC SIM cards in 2012, 70% of them to mobile operators in South Korea and Japan, with Europe beginning to ramp up, the SIMalliance trade association said today in announcing its global SIM shipment figures for the year.
A recently released consumer survey by U.S.-based outdoor media company CBS Outdoor and UK-based consumer research company Kantar Media found that only 8% of the survey’s respondents were aware of NFC, up from 6% the preceding year.
Swedish mobile operator Three, outdoor media company Clear Channel, and Australia-based NFC tag marketing company Tapit have installed NFC smart posters on a Stockholm subway car.
Singaporean mobile operator StarHub has added an NFC movie-ticketing service to its SmartWallet, although the telco has added few services since launching the wallet last August.
The Moscow transit network, including the Moscow Metro, one of the largest subway systems worldwide, is moving to transit cards based on second-generation Mifare technology, Mifare Plus, an upgrade from Mifare Classic.
U.S.-based ABI Research has increased its projection of NFC-enabled phone and tablet shipments to 270 million this year, up by about 15% from earlier projections, the firm told NFC Times.
Canadian debit network Interac, along with the Royal Bank of Canada, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada and BlackBerry demonstrated what Interac billed as the first NFC-enabled debit transaction in Canada.
In about two weeks, Transport for London expects to record its one-millionth ride paid for by contactless bank cards, and the authority says it’s on track to hit its deadline for launching open-loop fare collection on the rest of its transit network, including the busy London Underground, by the end of the year.
As it seeks to reduce the number of coins and notes consumers pop into its vending machines, the Coca-Cola Co. is counting on more consumers to pay for their bottles of Coke with cards and mobile phones in coming years.
Israel-based contactless and NFC vendor On Track Innovations today reported revenue fell by 22% in 2012 to US$40 million, and losses widened to $17.4 million for the year.
France-based Gemalto is forecasting double-digit growth in revenue this year, following a strong 2012, in which it reported gains in both sales and profit and the first significant returns for its trusted service management business.
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.
The embedded chip in Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 will eventually come preloaded with payment applications from other brands, in addition to Visa payWave, the device maker revealed Thursday, in announcing its much-anticipated Galaxy S 4 smartphone.
NFC-enabled digital advertising screens will be available in 140 malls starting next month, and some major advertisers are interested, according to the NFC tag provider for the displays.
The board of Israel-based On Track Innovations has named a new CEO to lead the struggling contactless and NFC vendor, following the ouster in December of company co-founder Oded Bashan from the post.
California state officials have released a list of seven bidders it intends to award contracts to for the supply of core technology for the state’s ambitious plan to help more than 300 transit agencies roll out open-loop fare payments statewide.
The Moscow Department of Transport has announced it is launching a test of its planned “MultiTransport” mobility-as-a-service platform, which will enable users to plan and pay for rides on the Moscow Metro and other public transit, along with taxis. The city said it is planning to add other transport modes, including car-share and bike and scooter rental.
A commercial bus company serving Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, has launched contactless open-loop payments on board its new electronic buses, and reports say officials and bankers would like to see contactless EMV payments expanded to other modes of transport.
Moscow Metro has 45,000 users for its Face Pay service since launching its rollout of facial recognition fare-payments in mid-October, the transit agency said today, in releasing more details about how the service works.
Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.
Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter
The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.
A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.
Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.
The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.
While the trend today is for more transit agencies to introduce open-loop fare payments, closed-loop cards, either in physical form or dematerialized on smartphones and wearables, will be with us for many years to come–though perhaps in a reduced role. That’s according to a recent panel discussion at the Mobility Payments Asia Pacific 2021 conference.
Andy Taylor, senior director, global strategy for Cubic Transportation Systems contended that the MaaS market is at a crossroads and could fail if it doesn’t change course, including putting cities and public agencies firmly in the “driving seat” of MaaS apps.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As the Covid-19 crisis sows fear among mass transit customers and causes ridership on buses, trains and trams to crash, there is heightened interest in mobile ticketing and other electronic fare payments as a way to ease the concerns and help coax wary riders to return.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, Credit Suisse, expected to participate in Apple Pay, the U.S.-based tech giant continues to chip away at resistance among major European banks to joining its digital payments service.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the National Football League kicking off its season in a few weeks in the U.S., fans will be using NFC, QR codes and perhaps ultrasonic signals on their mobile devices, in addition to tapping contactless-enabled paper tickets, to attend football games and other events at all 31 NFL stadiums.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –Payments industry backers suggest that U.S. banks could have an incentive to begin contactless rollouts soon, but in the absence of deadlines from the major payments networks, which are rapidly approaching in other markets, there's no guarantee of rollouts in the U.S. on the horizon.
NFC TIMES Exclusive –As the digital payments ecosystem moves into 2018, it is dealing with many of the same unfulfilled promises, works in progress and unfinished business as in 2017.
NFC TIMES Exclusive – As more U.S. merchants launch their own payments apps, some seem positioned to offer serious competition to Apple Pay and the other NFC “Pays” wallets.
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –Promoters of contextual commerce are looking to a range of connected devices, including smart appliances and such home hubs as Alexa–along with a host of mobile devices–to enable consumers to pay in almost every context. But many challenges remain for what could become a “very disjointed” array of payment options, experts say.
