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.

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.

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.

Infineon Introduces New Embedded Secure Element, Hoping to Tap Growing Market

Germany-based Infineon Technologies today introduced a new embedded secure element, targeting the growing market for chips that handset makers are including in their NFC-enabled devices.

Vendor Group: NFC Secure Element Market to Grow by Two-Thirds This Year

Smart card vendor association Eurosmart has substantially increased its estimate for NFC secure element shipments for 2012–by 50% to 150 million units–and forecasts that secure element shipments will grow by another 67% in 2013 to 250 million units.

Topic “Android”

Google Drops NXP in Favor of Broadcom for NFC Stack, Latest Nexus Devices

Nov 19 2012 (All day)

Google has chosen U.S.-based Broadcom as its NFC chip supplier for its new Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet and has incorporated Broadcom’s NFC software stack in its new Android 4.2 operating system running on the devices.

Inside Secure Confident of Android NFC Design Win, but Slump to Continue This Year

Inside Secure is confident it will be able to announce a design win for an Android NFC phone before the end of the year, according to Rémy de Tonnac, CEO of the struggling No. 2 NFC chip maker.

NXP Notes NFC Design Wins for 200 Smartphone and Tablet Models

NXP Semiconductors said that 200 smartphone and tablet models are in the pipeline carrying its NFC chips–with about 40% of them either already in production or “moving toward production over the (next) few quarters.”

Inside Relaunches IPO; Seeks to Branch Out Beyond BlackBerrys

France-based NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has relaunched its initial public offering, planning to raise up the €79 million (US$103.4 million), as it seeks to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded NFC market.

Inside Secure to Relaunch IPO; Announces 20 Million NFC Chip Shipments and New Customer

Inside Secure today announced it has shipped 20 million NFC chips the past 12 months and said its chips will be used by a leading phone maker on a major mobile platform–as it seeks to build interest in its renewed IPO.

Inside Secure Releases New Android NFC Stack; Accuses NXP of Monopolizing Market

NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has released a new version of its NFC software stack, as it seeks to break rival NXP Semiconductors’ dominance of the market for NFC chips in Android phones.

GlobalPlatform and SIMalliance Seek to Build ‘De Facto Standard’ for Accessing Secure Elements

Jan 12 2012 (All day)

The SIMalliance trade group and GlobalPlatform standards organization say they are working on what they predict will become a “de-facto standard” for the way apps on NFC phones communicate with secure elements.

SIM Vendors Promote ‘Open API’ for NFC Phones; Google Not Yet Onboard

Nov 30 2011 (All day)

NFC phone software from SIM vendor group the SIMalliance that helps phone app developers tie into the secure elements on NFC phones is getting strong support from mobile operators but not from Google, at least not yet.

HTC to Introduce 4G NFC Phone; U.S. Launch Planned

Handset maker HTC is introducing its first NFC-enabled phone in the West, with U.S. mobile carrier T-Mobile USA announcing that it will sell the 4G Android handset along with an NFC version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy S II starting Oct. 10.