NFC TimesThe premier source for news, analysis and commentary on
Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

A group of former top managers in Visa’s mobile program have formed a start-up that plans to use NFC and BLE to deliver coupons, rewards and other offers to consumers in stores, using the branded apps of retailers or other marketers.

Transport for London today announced it would launch acceptance for open-loop bank cards and other contactless payment on its heavily traveled London Underground and other modes of transit in September, while the UK’s largest mobile operator, EE, announced customers could begin to tap their NFC phones to pay fares at the same time.

NXP Semiconductors said sales in its emerging ID business–mainly made up of its NFC chips–increased by 22% in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter, and CEO Richard Clemmer insisted the chip maker’s secure element business would continue to remain a strong contributor.

Taiwanese mobile operators have sold a combined 4.2 million NFC-enabled phones and hope to launch their joint TSM platform by the end of the year.

Australia’s largest credit union, CUA, is the first financial institution in Asia-Pacific to commercially launch mobile payments using host-card emulation, announcing the move today in Australia.

As the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association prepares to enable its members to commercially launch NFC mobile payments, it has released the results of its 12-month NFC payments and loyalty pilot along with a survey of users.

France-based telco Orange and Air France, along with airline industry and information technology services provider SITA have launched a trial of an NFC boarding pass application for the airline’s route from Toulouse to Paris, and SITA is also piloting Bluetooth low energy beacons at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

NFC Times Exclusive: Host-card emulation represents an “inflection point” for driving the rollout of NFC mobile payments and could also help the SIM-based NFC ecosystem to become more efficient and less costly, the head of payments innovation for major Spanish bank BBVA told NFC Times.

Spanish bank BBVA is claiming to be the first bank to commercially launch payments with host-card emulation, announcing today an upgrade of its Android mobile-wallet app incorporating Visa’s HCE specifications.

The next major Android upgrade, code-named Android L, includes changes to the way host-card emulation handles default applications for payment, according to a developer preview.

France-based ASK, the maker of contactless transit cards and components for electronic passports, has launched an initial public offering, seeking to raise about €25 million (US$36 million).