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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

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.

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.

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.

Research In Motion continues to promote its own trusted service management service–the only handset maker to offer one–announcing Wednesday approval by Visa of the service to manage secure elements on NFC phones.

Samsung Electronics' high-profile launch of branded NFC tags in the U.S. uses nonstandard technology, NFC Times has learned.

Despite efforts to diversify its customer base for its NFC chips, France-based Inside Secure will rely on sales to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion for the bulk of its revenue in 2012 and for its goal to become profitable by the end of the year.

Organizers of a recent NFC hackathon in London gave “kick-starter” funds to two teams of app developers and handed out other awards, all in an effort to bring the apps closer to a market launch.

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 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.

Infineon Technologies said it shipped at least 10 million embedded secure chips during both the third and fourth quarters of 2011 and predicts it will continue to sell “double-digit millions” of embedded chips each quarter after that.