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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

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.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – NXP Semiconductors chief Rick Clemmer said he believes the planned launch of Apple Pay in China will encourage Chinese OEMs to order the chip maker’s NFC technology, while major Chinese transit authorities are expressing more interest in using NFC-enabled phones for mobile ticketing, he said.

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Broadcom made only passing reference to NFC during a conference call Thursday to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and full-year earnings, although CEO Scott McGregor listed NFC as one of the technologies expected to help lead to growth in the company’s high-end connectivity business.

NXP Semiconductors said sales in its emerging ID business–mainly made up of its NFC chips–increased by 22% in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter, and CEO Richard Clemmer insisted the chip maker’s secure element business would continue to remain a strong contributor.

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.

U.S.-based Identive Group reported an 81% year-over-year growth in transponder sales but a loss for the quarter overall, in preliminary second quarter results the vendor released Friday.

Gemalto CEO Olivier Piou predicted the France-based vendor would begin to see substantial recurring revenue from its trusted service management business starting in 2014 as mobile payment starts to roll out globally over the next three to five years.