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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

France-based Gemalto, the largest supplier of NFC SIMs globally, says it is not scaling back its projections for shipments of the cards this year, despite delays in orders by European mobile operators and other factors, such as host-card emulation.

Netherlands-based chip supplier NXP Semiconductors reported decreased revenue for its emerging ID unit, which includes its NFC mobile transactions business, but alluded to its design win for the Samsung Galaxy S5. The company also remained optimistic about EMV and denied seeing host-card emulation as a threat.

The SIMalliance vendor group said its members shipped 78 million NFC SIMs last year, with Japan and South Korea again the top destination for the high-end cards.

Pairing of home and office devices and appliances via Wi-Fi has taken a step forward with updated NFC handover specifications from two trade organizations, the NFC Forum and the Wi-Fi Alliance.

While the UK’s top UK contactless issuer, Barclays, and its credit card arm, Barclaycard, predict a doubling of contactless transactions this year, numbers remain relatively small, with even the most active users tapping just over four times a month, a spokesman for the issuer confirmed to NFC Times.

NFC Times Exclusive: All publicly traded vendors across the NFC ecosystem have filed their year-end earnings reports, and the results show a mixed bag of promising sales for contactless and EMV technology, continued restructuring and expected challenges ahead with the advent of host-card emulation.

Inside Secure is selling its next generation NFC controller technology to chip maker Intel, as well as an expanded license, for $19.2 million, though will keep most of its NFC patents and embedded chip technology.

In the first full year since a takeover ousted former CEO and co-founder Oded Bashan, Israel-based NFC and contactless company On Track Innovations showed some progress in its efforts to turn around the chronically unprofitable company, in part by focusing on sales of contactless point-of-sale terminals.

NFC Times Exclusive: Mobile network operators will take delivery of at least two-thirds more NFC SIMs this year than in 2013, predicts operator trade association, the GSMA, though the impact of host-card emulation remains to be seen.

The NFC Forum has issued a statement of support for host-card emulation at its all-member meeting this week in San Francisco, calling HCE a “promising addition to the portfolio of NFC solutions that could potentially accelerate market growth.”

Former Safran Morpho e-Documents’ No. 2 man Julien Zuccarelli has been named CEO of France-based ASK, as the contactless vendor continues its turnaround and expansion efforts.