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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Deutsche Telekom, one of the most important backers of SIM-based NFC through the years, now questions whether the technology could ever become a standard, as it quietly withdrew its little-used SIM-based NFC mobile wallet from the German market last week after more than two years.

NFC Times Exclusive – More Chinese OEMs have launched support for NFC transit ticketing, following earlier launches by Xiaomi and Huawei, NFC Times has learned, with at least five more device makers enabling service in one to two Chinese cities, or planning to do so.

NFC Times Exclusive – In line with its October promise, Samsung has launched its mobile payments service in two additional markets, Malaysia and Thailand, bringing the number of markets to 12, counting Puerto Rico. Still, in some of the markets where Samsung Pay has launched, the device maker adopted a different rollout strategy, which it calls “early access.”

NFC Times Exclusive – NFC secure element shipments for 2016 will be lower than earlier forecasts by card and chip vendor trade association Eurosmart, although the group is not saying by how much.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Far EasTone, one of Taiwan’s three major telcos, officially launched its mobile wallet Tuesday, offering a range of services and technologies as it prepares to compete with the coming of the “Pays” wallets, including Apple Pay, which is expected to launch in Taiwan in the first quarter.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – In case anyone is still wondering, Apple didn’t launch Apple Pay for the transaction fees it earns from banks, even if the iPhone maker still doesn’t publicly acknowledge it charges the fees to begin with.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – By switching from NFC SIM-based to host card emulation mobile payments service at the end of November, one of Canada's top five banks, Scotiabank, is hoping to “build adoption” at a “higher magnitude” for its My Mobile Wallet service, a bank spokeswoman told NFC Times.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Square CEO Jack Dorsey announced Tuesday that the payments company is making its Square Cash service available for in-store payments with Apple Pay. NFC Times was first to report the planned move Nov. 1.

NFC Times Exclusive – American Express has quietly launched its HCE-enabled mobile payments service in the UK, along with its launch in Canada, which it announced Wednesday, NFC Times has learned.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – In a draft decision, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has denied a request from four major banks for permission to negotiate collectively with Apple and boycott participation in Apple Pay during the discussions, with regulators expressing concern that such a position “could reduce or distort competition in a number of markets.”

NFC Times Exclusive – Two more Polish banks plan to launch mobile payments using host card emulation technology, NFC Times has learned, adding to a growing list of mobile payments services in Poland, which saw the launch of its first “Pays” service last week with the introduction of Android Pay.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – After years of effort, Israel-based contactless reader and NFC vendor On Track Innovations achieved a rare quarterly operating profit from continuing operations, thanks to cost cutting and a high gross margin, helped by a onetime licensing fee. But it still showed a net loss and the cost reductions may have bottomed out.