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U.S-based Texas Instruments said it expects to see prototype launches of devices using its recently launched NFC sensor transponder in the first quarter of 2015, as the U.S.-based chip maker seeks a larger stake in the promising markets for wearables, Internet of Things and industrial applications that sometimes require an NFC interface.

NFC Times Exclusive – Payments standards group EMVCo said it doesn’t expect problems with the NFC booster technology used by Apple in its new iPhones, although the group acknowledged that the technology is “very new and has not yet been fully studied and standardized.”

NFC Times Exclusive – Hungary’s largest telco, which last week launched NFC payments commercially, believes it can avoid problems and threats encountered by other telcos launching

NFC Times Exclusive – Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell, one of the first telcos globally to launch NFC service commercially, has pulled back from the technology, having seen too little take-up for NFC retail payments, NFC Times has learned.

With interest growing again in embedded secure elements in NFC phones to store applications, thanks to Apple Pay, NXP Semiconductors is trying to drive demand for its embedded chips in Android phones by making it easier for service providers to load their applications on the silicon.

NFC Times Exclusive: While the thought of more consumers tapping their phones to pay in stores is attracting the most attention with the launch of Apple Pay, it’s the prospect of users paying for purchases in mobile apps with Apple Pay that could be the real breakthrough, say representatives of Visa and MasterCard Worldwide. 

Canada-based Kili Technology, which supplies hardware modules, firmware and IP for mobile point of sale, readers and other payment-acceptance devices, has acquired NFC-accessories vendor DeviceFidelity.

Las Vegas, Nev. – No single mobile payments provider or platform will dominate the market in the long run, so card networks should adopt a flexible approach, CEOs of two major payment networks, American Express and Discover Financial Services, told attendees at this week’s Money 2020 conference.

Although Dekkers Davidson, CEO of the big MCX mobile-commerce consortium in the U.S., said the group is working on Bluetooth low energy and NFC, the main technology MCX is expected to launch with next year will still be QR codes.

NFC Times Exclusive: More than 25 Taiwanese banks have signed up to potentially launch NFC mobile-payments services using a TSM platform being launched by a joint venture of three domestic processing and interbank groups.

NXP Semiconductors reported a big jump in sales from its emerging ID unit in the third quarter, thanks to shipments of NFC chips and secure elements to Apple for the tech giant’s new iPhones.

NFC Times Exclusive: In what is believed to be one of the first uses for NFC booster technology in NFC phones, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature an amplifier chip enabling a unique antenna design by Apple for its Apple Pay service that launched Monday.