Latest News

Add-On Needed to Extend Range of microSD Cards in Certain Phones

U.S.-based technology company DeviceFidelity will announce a new add-on for mobile phones, which will be necessary to ensure a consistent experience for consumers tapping certain handsets to pay, including the popular Samsung Galaxy S, NFC Times has learned.

Inside Secure to Promote New Type of Tags for Use with NFC Phones

Jan 6 2011

NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has announced support for a new category of low-cost but nonstandard RFID tags that it said could be used in place of standard tags to send data to NFC phones.

Google Building an NFC Mobile Wallet; U.S. Banks are Interested

Jan 6 2011

Google is building a mobile wallet nicknamed "Cream," which it plans to integrate with Android NFC phones that consumers could tap to pay in stores, sources told NFC Times. Among banks showing strong interest is U.S.-based Citigroup.

Google Works on Mobile-Payment Service

Jan 5 2011

Google is working on a mobile-payment wallet and advertising service that could launch this year, enabling consumers to make purchases by tapping their NFC-enabled Android phones, sources told NFC Times, following an article today that the Web giant was considering the move.

Contactless Bank Cards Forecasted To Continue Strong Growth in 2011

Jan 6 2011

Shipments of contactless bank payment cards will grow by almost 30% in 2011, following a nearly 50% jump in 2010, as the U.S. market recovers and banks in Europe and Asia ship more dual-interface cards, according to vendor group Eurosmart.

Transport for London Calls for Faster NFC SIMs

Dec 28 2010

NFC transit ticketing is one of the most highly anticipated applications for NFC phones, especially in such regions as Europe, where the infrastructure of contactless readers is already in place in many cities.

NXP’s Gingerbread Coup Leaves Rivals With a Bitter Taste

NXP Semiconductors was handing out celebratory gingerbread cookies at the recent Cartes exhibition in Paris after announcing that Google would be using its NFC software and chip in the much-anticipated Nexus S phone sporting the new "Gingerbread" operating system.

Orange Announces NFC-SIM Rollout, Smartphone-Purchase Aims

France Telecom-Orange Group has announced plans to roll out SIM cards supporting NFC services to most of its European operators by the second half of 2011 and has stated its intention that more than half of the new smartphones models it buys will support NFC.

Visa Europe Predicts Acceleration of UK Contactless Market in 2011

Visa Europe predicts there will be 20 million Visa-branded contactless cards on issue and 60,000 point-of-sale terminals to accept them by the end of 2011 in the United Kingdom.

Orange to Put NFC Phones on Sale Nationally in France

France Telecom-Orange will put NFC phones on sale in its shops throughout France starting in January–without the NFC services to match–hoping to seed the market with devices.

Visa Approves microSDs for Use with Three Smartphones

Jan 7 2011

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

Turkish Bank and Telco Launch Flex-SIM Project

Dec 13 2010

Turkey’s Garanti Bank and mobile operator Avea have commercially launched their planned mobile-payment service, using SIM overlay chips with flexible antennas to enable customers to tap the

Google Announces Nexus S Smartphone Packing NFC

Dec 6 2010

Google has announced the launch of one of the world's first smartphones packing NFC, the Nexus S, which supports the company’s new Android operating system version, Gingerbread.

New iPhone Apps Available as Visa Europe Preps for Expected Trials

Dec 6 2010

Visa Europe is apparently preparing to launch one or more trials with new iPhone attachments, which would enable consumers to tap their iPhones to pay with Visa payWave.

Renesas Electronics Joins the NFC Chip Fray

Yet another major chip maker, Renesas Electronics, has announced it will introduce an NFC chip targeting smartphones.

As NFC Heats Up, Big Telecom Vendors See a Market Opportunity

As NFC smartphones head to market and big mobile operator groups gear up to offer mobile wallets on them, units of two of the largest telecom equipment and services vendors see a market in the making.

Samsung Electronics to Introduce NFC Chip

Dec 5 2010

Chip supplier Samsung Electronics has announced it is introducing an NFC chip embedded with flash memory, adding a major new supplier for phone makers planning NFC handsets.

Discover Stakes Its Claim to the Contactless-Payment Market

After years of preparation, Discover Financial Services has begun its first commercial launch of contactless cards–along with one of the first rollouts of contactless stickers in the United States.

Singapore Telco and Service Providers Trial Flex-Antenna Device

Singaporean mobile operator StarHub, DBS Bank and transit fare-collection and payments company EZ-Link plan to launch a mobile-payment trial next month enabling users to tap to pay using devices with flexible antennas linked to SIM cards.

Inside Contactless to Change Name; Seeks to Broaden Market Share

Dec 1 2010

France-based chip supplier Inside Contactless plans to change its name to Inside Secure, as it continues to digest its purchase of Atmel Corp.’s smart card unit and seeks to broaden its market share.

Gemalto and NXP Announce Long-Held Licensing Deal

Perhaps seeking to take advantage of the renewed buzz around NFC, smart card supplier Gemalto and chip maker NXP Semiconductors today announced their nearly year-old or older licensing agreement for NXP’s high-end Mifare technology.

Deutsche Telekom Lays Groundwork for NFC Rollouts in Europe

Nov 24 2010

Deutsche Telekom is gearing up to offer NFC services in four of its major European markets, including Germany, NFC Times has learned.

Singapore Formally Begins Search for National TSM

Nov 19 2010

The Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority has issued its long-awaited request for tenders to appoint a national trusted service manager and build an NFC mobile-payment platform.

Google Chief Eric Schmidt Endorses NFC

Nov 17 2010

There was little surprise at Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s announcement Monday that the next version of the company’s mobile operating system, Android, would support NFC.

U.S. Telcos: Joint Venture is All About Scale

Nov 17 2010

Major U.S. mobile carriers planning to launch mobile payment and other NFC services believe the sheer scale of their combined subscriber base and other value they will offer to merchants and consumers will be enough to establish a new payment brand in the United States.

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.