Features Section

Longer-Range NFC Tags Could Bring in More Applications but Also More Privacy and Security Concerns

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive – As the NFC Forum develops its tag Type 5 specification based on the ISO/IEC 15693 protocol, industry sources say that NFC tags using the longer-range protocol could see demand in medical, industrial, and supply chain applications, and most handsets and readers on the market can currently read the tags, although there are still concerns about interoperability and security.

Tokenization: Panel Looks at Costs and Benefits of Transformative Technology

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive With tokenization scaling up, some players in the payments ecosystem will see financial benefit, while others will pay the cost of implementing the technology.

Survey: NFC Trumps QR Codes and Beacons for Connecting to Nonpayments Applications in Stores

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Between two-thirds and three-quarters of U.S. consumers say they are interested in using NFC for nonpayment retail applications, according to a study funded by the NFC Forum by research firm Strategy Analytics.

Start-Up Takes on Apple Pay but Needs Help from Other OEMs

By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC Times Exclusive: While some high-volume U.S. merchants, such as McDonald’s, Subway and Walgreens accept Apple Pay, along with other NFC-payments services, a key weakness of these platforms is the low percentage of merchants in the U.S. where consumers can tap to pay with their phones.  

Zapp Plans September 2015 Launch for ACH-Based Mobile-Payments Service in UK

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive: While Apple Pay has re-energized interest in bank-issued mobile credit and debit cards using secure elements in NFC phones, backers of decoupled debit and other automated clearing house-based mobile-payments schemes continue to gear up.

Will Apple Watch Drive Adoption for Payments Wearables?

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive: The NFC-enabled Apple Watch, Apple’s first smartwatch, may drive a significant increase in adoption for wearable devices, say analysts, although it remains to be seen whether that adoption will bring with it more mobile-payments applications for wearables.

London Delivers Open-Loop Fare Collection; Expected to Boost Use of Contactless Cards, NFC Phones

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

Transport for London has made good on its years-long endeavor to accept open-loop contactless payment on the London Underground and its other modes of transit, clearing the way for what is expected to be millions of yearly contactless transactions from bank cards and later, NFC mobile phones.

First U.S. Campaigns on Clear Channel Outdoor’s NFC Platform Set for Fall; More ‘Challenging’ BLE Expected in 2015

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

The first two campaigns in the U.S. on Clear Channel Outdoor’s NFC-enabled out-of-home advertising network, called Connect, will launch in the San Francisco area in September, representatives of the company told NFC Times, and they expect nationwide campaigns to go live by the fourth quarter.

The Push and Pull of Proximity-Marketing Campaigns

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive: Proximity marketing firms in the U.S. and Europe say that their most successful campaigns see tens of thousands of taps or scans, but amid growing interest in Bluetooth low energy, they say that it is important not to over-use push advertising.

Post-Restructuring, Identiv Says It Will be Heavily Invested in NFC

By: 
Kiona Smith-Strickland

NFC Times Exclusive: As Identiv’s management shifts focus away from the restructuring process the company began in 2013, NFC tags for consumer goods are the company’s heaviest area of investment and largest area of growth, CEO Jason Hart told NFC Times in an interview.

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

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

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

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.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

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.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

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 Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

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.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

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.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.