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

NFC Times Exclusive: Despite the interest in host-card emulation in North America and Europe grabbing the spotlight, there is a good chance that banks and other issuers in Asia-Pacific could generally commercialize the technology first, sources told NFC Times.

Possible use cases for Bluetooth low energy include proximity marketing, transit and event ticketing, and indoor navigation in retail stores, arenas and stadiums. Then, of course, there is payments–although it remains unclear how a BLE-based payments service would operate, and the concept remains mostly hypothetical, according to a new report on BLE from the Smart Card Alliance industry group.

France-based Gemalto today announced that it is one of the suppliers for China Telecom’s “massive” rollout of NFC SIMs, though it did not offer any details on price or quantities of cards it will ship.

AUSTIN, Texas – U.S. mobile carrier AT&T plans to enable nonpayment NFC services, which could run alongside payment applications on its NFC SIMs, but would not be part of the Isis Wallet.

NFC Times Exclusive: Assuming Apple doesn’t put embedded secure elements in its next iPhone as some are predicting, the future for the embedded chip technology for NFC phones is uncertain–beset by stalled projects, growing interest in host-card emulation and questionable continued support from Samsung.

SIM vendor association SIMalliance offered more details about its members’ overall NFC SIM shipments in 2013, and despite the emergence of such alternatives as host-card emulation, the group contends that “significant increases in NFC (SIM) shipments look set to continue globally.”

U.S.-based Identive Group, a supplier of NFC tags and ID equipment, reported continued business divestitures and hinted at the possibility of more job cuts, in reporting its first quarter earnings.

The launch of a QR code-based mobile wallet by Hungary’s largest bank, OTP Bank, and Hungary-based mobile-payments technology supplier Cellum, along with MasterCard Worldwide, is not expected to interfere with plans by the bank to launch NFC-mobile payments later in 2014.

Israeli-based NFC and contactless vendor On Track Innovations reported increased revenue, but also failed to cut losses for the first quarter, though CEO Ofer Tziperman predicted positive adjusted EBITDA by the first quarter of 2015.

NFC Times Exclusive: Slovakia’s largest mobile operator, Slovak Telekom, plans to follow its parent, Germany-based Deutsche Telekom, in launching NFC payments using a prepaid application issued by Deutsche Telekom’s ClickandBuy online payments unit, NFC Times has learned. 

Japan-based video game company Nintendo will begin accepting contactless payments via its Wii U game consoles in Japan later this year, and the company will also release a new line of NFC-enabled toy figures for the console.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom today launched its much-anticipated–and also much-delayed–NFC-mobile wallet, which features its own branded prepaid mobile-payments application that will anchor a promised mobile-commerce platform.