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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

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.

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.

Deutsche Telekom intends to make its move into the payments market at the physical point of sale in direct competition with banks, with an NFC payments commercial launch planned in Poland this year, before later expanding to Germany and other European countries.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide appear to be stepping up the pace of NFC phone certifications as they gear up for the launch of more mobile-payment rollouts this year.

Dave Wentker, considered the No. 2 man in Visa Inc.’s mobile-payment unit and a former vice chairman of the NFC Forum, has left the payment network after more than 15 years, NFC Times has learned.

Vodafone sees its planned prepaid payment service in its forthcoming NFC mobile wallets as a “business opportunity,” though it intends to enable many other applications, including payment from major banks, Christian Wirtz, group director for mCommerce told NFC Times.

Visa has announced its first certifications of NFC phones, approving six models to run its contactless application, payWave, on SIM cards.

ANZ bank in Australia says it has nothing against the idea of using microSD cards for mobile payment.

Visa has certified the iPhone and two other smartphones for use with microSD cards carrying its payWave application.