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.

Topic “Astound”

Payment Can Wait: T-Mobile USA Announces First NFC App–for Sleeping

T-Mobile USA has announced its first NFC application, and it has nothing to do with payment or mobile wallets.

Reality Show Tag Trial Seeks to Demo Smart Posters as Ad Medium

A small group of advertising agency staffers will be able to tap their NFC phones on smart posters in New York and Los Angeles starting next week to view videos clips of a reality TV show and link to the show’s Facebook page, according to UK-based NFC application provider Proxama.

Nokia to Launch NFC Symbian Update While Looking Toward Windows Phone

Nokia plans to release its update to the Symbian operating system, called Anna, in July or August to turn on the NFC features of its C7 smartphone worldwide. The move signals the start of a new NFC push by the Finland-based handset maker.

No Word on NFC from Nokia with Pair of New Symbian Phones

While Nokia last month finally turned on the NFC features of its first Symbian NFC phone, the C7, the handset maker apparently is not planning to enable all of its remaining Symbian smartph