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

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – UK-based Vodafone Group remains one of the major holdouts among telcos in continuing to support NFC SIM cards, as it seeks to stay competitive against the coming of the “OEM Pays” services in Europe.

NFC Times Exclusive – More than two years after EMVCo released its tokenization guidelines, there are still few token service providers operating besides those of the major payments networks, and there are no specifications yet from top networks Visa and MasterCard to help vendors to tokenize cards supporting their brands.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – France-based Gemalto, which has been heavily invested in trusted service management and NFC SIM cards in the past, is continuing to push cloud-based payments, announcing certification by MasterCard for its full host card emulation offer–with the help of technology from Moroccan-based payments software company HPS.

NFC Times Exclusive – MasterCard has released its first list of certified vendors for host card emulation products supporting its cloud-based payments specifications, though the list includes relatively few suppliers so far. Meanwhile, neither Visa nor MasterCard has apparently certified tokenization suppliers.

NFC Times Exclusive – As mainstream trusted service managers struggle to cope with a world in which their services are in much less demand, a tiny, self-funded start-up is seeking to carve out a niche as TSM for millions of fitness wristbands, festival bracelets and other lower-end wearables that might one day be enabled for payment.

NFC Times Exclusive – Taiwan’s TSM banking joint venture has received proposals from at least four vendors to supply a wallet platform with host-card emulation, as well as tokenization technology, as the group seeks to expand its thus far little-used TSM platform to offer its member banks the ability to launch cloud-based NFC payments by the end of 2015, NFC Times has learned.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Vodafone Group is relaunching its NFC-based Vodafone Wallet with tokenized payment applications, as it seeks to attract more users and issuers to the mobile wallet.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Following a lull in attention on host-card emulation with the announcement and launch of Apple Pay in the latter half of last year, the buzz appears to be back on HCE, and among the latest organizations promoting it is MasterCard Worldwide.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – U.S.-based Mozido, a supplier of cloud-based, white-label mobile payments and commerce products, upped its stake in NFC technology, making a $2.5 million investment in host-card emulation start-up SimplyTapp.

NFC Times Exclusive: Westpac New Zealand’s product chief told NFC Times he believes host-card emulation will reduce costs and increase flexibility, while ensuring the bank can use its own branded wallet.