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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

Retailers in Paris have launched a pair of pilots with an NFC option, one for loyalty and the other to identify customers when they pick up purchases after shopping online at home.

Turkey’s largest operator, Turkcell, has introduced its third self-branded NFC phone, a model made by Chinese supplier ZTE, and for the first time is including its own NFC tag in the box.

Mobile operator Telefónica group and Visa Europe have expanded their payments partnership to Telefónica’s European operations, marking the third tie-up between a major European mobile operator group and international payment network this year.

Smart card and ID security company Morpho has signed an agreement to acquire Singapore-based trusted service manager Cassis International, putting another major TSM platform into the hands of a smart card supplier, NFC Times has learned.

MasterCard Worldwide and Germany-based Deutsche Telekom group have signed a partnership agreement that will help the telco launch a prepaid PayPass application for its planned NFC mobile wallet, NFC Times has learned.

Samsung Electronics' high-profile launch of branded NFC tags in the U.S. uses nonstandard technology, NFC Times has learned.

China’s giant mobile operator, China Mobile, and the country's big domestic payment network, China UnionPay, have signed an agreement to cooperate on mobile payment, including using SIM cards in NFC phones.

Handset maker HTC and Cathay United Bank of Taiwan, among other parties, are expected to announce plans to launch an NFC mobile-payment project putting a MasterCard PayPass credit application on microSD cards that can run in a full NFC phone model from HTC.

Samsung Electronics is the latest­–and largest–smartphone maker to introduce its own branded NFC tags, with its launch of TecTiles programmable tags.

In what could be the first step by Apple toward launching a full mobile wallet, Apple today unveiled Passbook, an application built into its next mobile operating system, iOS 6, which the company introduced at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

No. 3 U.S. mobile carrier Sprint is planning to launch its own NFC mobile wallet as early as this summer, NFC Times has learned, as the mobile wallet war in the United States continues to heat up.

U.S.-based Sequent Software hopes the addition of two NFC industry veterans, including a former NFC expert at Microsoft, will help it compete for trusted service management contracts with the top three global smart card vendors.