NFC Confidential

2012 Does Not Bode Well for Google Wallet with Present Strategy

Published: Dec 23 2011

Suggested New Year’s Resolution for Google: “Must Find a New Wallet Strategy.”

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Features

South Korea Takes Lead Globally in NFC Rollouts with Millions of Phones and SIMs

Published: Jan 12 2012
By: 
Dan Balaban

While mobile operators in most other countries are still struggling to roll out even scant volumes of NFC phones that can do payment, ticketing and other applications, South Korea’s telcos have already crossed the 5 million-phone mark–including NFC versions of such high-profile devices as the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note.

Read more »
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The Year Ahead for NFC: Major M-Commerce Rollouts Unlikely Until 2013

Published: Dec 23 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

2012 was going to be the year that the new era of NFC-based mobile commerce had finally arrived–with Google Wallet rolling out widely, mobile operators in the U.S. and Europe making significant inroads with their own mobile wallets and big Asian m-commerce players generally commercializing NFC, as well.

Read more »
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Maker of Rugged Phones Enters NFC Market; is Its Price Right?

Published: Sep 23 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Sonim Technologies, the maker of rugged work phones, has introduced its first NFC-enabled handset, betting that cleaning companies, security guard firms and home-health care agencies are ready for a more durable–and higher-priced–NFC phone for workforce management.

Read more »
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UK Contactless to Reach a Tipping Point in 2011?

Published: Jul 27 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Contactless payment continues to grow rapidly in the United Kingdom, but transaction volume is still low, and it remains open to debate whether 2011 will be a tipping point for the technology.

Read more »
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Report: Vast Majority of Consumers Will Need Push to Use NFC Payment

Published: Jul 6 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Fewer than 2% of consumers are “highly likely” to adopt NFC payments immediately after the technology is rolled out, according to UK-based research firm Datamonitor.

Read more »
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Analysis: Quick Tap Launches Fast but Expect Slow Take-up

Published: Jun 9 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Mobile operator Orange UK and payment issuer Barclaycard face challenges as they seek to get their “Quick Tap” service off the ground, say UK analysts.

Read more »
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Infineon to Focus on Market for NFC Secure Elements

Published: May 31 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Germany-based chip maker Infineon Technologies has no plans to join its rivals in producing NFC chips–instead focusing on secure elements that can store payment and other applications in NFC phones.

Read more »
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M-Pesa Mobile-Money Service to Use NFC? Not Anytime Soon

Published: Mar 29 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

The business development lead for Vodafone Group’s mobile payment solutions unit, which runs the popular M-Pesa mobile funds-transfer service in Kenya, said the telco has no plans to introduce NFC to the offer.

Read more »

In Open-Loop Drive, Transit Agencies Can’t Leave Unbanked Behind

Published: Mar 11 2011
By: 
Tom Zind

With Transport for London’s recent announcement confirming it would be the first big transit authority to accept bank cards for bus and metro fares, momentum continues to build for other large transit authorities to go to open-loop payment.

Read more »
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DoCoMo Reveals Strategy for Its Move to NFC

Published: Mar 4 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

NTT DoCoMo will sell "hybrid" NFC phones that support both standard NFC and domestic FeliCa technology from Japan’s Sony Corp. when the big telco makes its planned move to NFC late next year.

Read more »
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Headline News

Samsung Confirms NFC Chip in Galaxy Note, though NFC Version Already Shipping in Korea

Published: Jan 27 2012

Samsung Electronics has confirmed it has an NFC version of its Galaxy Note, though that comes as no surprise to operators in South Korea, which have been selling the tablet-smartphone hybrid with NFC inside for about two months.

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Inside Secure Releases New Android NFC Stack; Accuses NXP of Monopolizing Market

Published: Jan 20 2012

NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has released a new version of its NFC software stack, as it seeks to break rival NXP Semiconductors’ dominance of the market for NFC chips in Android phones.

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Japan’s KDDI Announces Plans for Small NFC Launch with Galaxy S II

Published: Jan 16 2012
Jan 17 2012 (All day)

Japan’s second largest mobile operator, KDDI, said it would launch Japan’s first mobile NFC service late this month with the Samsung Galaxy S II–though the service will start out small because of the lack of phones that support both standard NFC and Japan's proprietary FeliCa technology, as well as Japan's nearly nonexistent infrastructure of standard contactless readers.

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Spanish Bank Plans To Turn Barcelona into Contactless-Payment City

Published: Jan 12 2012

Large Spanish retail bank La Caixa will begin rolling out 1 million contactless cards along with more than 15,000 point-of-sale terminals and 500 contactless ATMs in Barcelona this month.

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GlobalPlatform and SIMalliance Seek to Build ‘De Facto Standard’ for Accessing Secure Elements

Published: Jan 11 2012
Jan 12 2012 (All day)

The SIMalliance trade group and GlobalPlatform standards organization say they are working on what they predict will become a “de-facto standard” for the way apps on NFC phones communicate with secure elements.

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Sony Unveils Pair of Android NFC Phones and ‘SmartTags’

Published: Jan 11 2012

Sony Ericsson has announced two NFC-enabled Android smartphones and NFC tags for its Xperia series, touting NFC as enabling consumers to share content, as well as “an increasing number of NFC applications.”

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Visa Announces Certification of Six NFC Phone Models for SIM-based payWave

Published: Jan 10 2012
Jan 11 2012 (All day)

Visa has announced its first certifications of NFC phones, approving six models to run its contactless application, payWave, on SIM cards.

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Intel, HP Signal Plans for Supporting NFC on Ultrabooks

Published: Jan 10 2012
Jan 11 2012 (All day)

U.S.-based Intel, as expected, is planning to incorporate NFC technology into chip designs for future ultrabook computers, the vice president and general manager of the chip maker’s PC group said Monday.

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Sprint Announces Two New NFC Phones Supporting Google Wallet

Published: Jan 10 2012

U.S. mobile carrier Sprint has announced two more phones supporting the Google Wallet, including Google’s new Android smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus.

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Turkey’s Top Telco Plans Major NFC Push in 2012, but Faces Challenges

Published: Jan 5 2012

Turkey’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell, is targeting 2012 for a major expansion of its NFC rollout, as it seeks to establish itself as a top-tier telco globally promoting NFC technology.

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German Bank to Launch Mobile-Payment Trial with microSDs and iPhone

Published: Dec 30 2011
Jan 12 2012 (All day)

German bank Landesbank Berlin will trial mobile payments using microSD cards and a contactless attachment for the iPhone, the bank announced today.

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Smartrac Purchases UPM RFID; Claims No. 1 Spot for NFC Tag Supply

Published: Dec 22 2011
Dec 23 2011 (All day)

Netherlands-based contactless inlay manufacturer Smartrac has announced it is acquiring the RFID business of Finland-based UPM, making Smartrac the largest supplier of NFC tags, according to the companies.

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Home

Worldwide Project Database

Tokyo, Chiba

Japan: No. 2 Telco in Japan to Sell First Standard NFC Phones
Japan’s No. 2 mobile operator, KDDI, plans to sell the first standard NFC phone in Japan, an NFC version of Samsung’s popular Galaxy S II...

Istanbul, other cities

Turkey: Turkcell Continues Rollout of NFC Services with More Banks,...
Turkcell’s mobile wallet enables subscribers to tap their phones to pay for purchases with a MasterCard PayPass application issued by...

Berlin and Frankfurt

Germany: Bank Plans Employee Trial with iPhone and microSDs
A limited number of Landesbank Berlin and Visa Europe employees in Berlin and Frankfurt, respectively,

Australia

Australia: Bank Launches iPhone App Supporting Contactless and P2P...
With its “Commbank Kaching” mobile-payment and banking app, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank enables its iPhone-packing customers to make peer...

Johannesburg, Cape Town

South Africa: Bank Uses microSDs for Mobile-Payment Trial
About 500 microSDs distributed to employees for the trial will store a MasterCard PayPass “prepaid debit” application that can be tapped at...

Auckland, Wellington

New Zealand: Vodafone and Bank Launch Employee Trial with Galaxy S II
The trial, scheduled to last three months, will enable a combined 44 employees from Vodafone an

Madrid

Spain: Telefónica Employee Trial to Test BlackBerrys for Payment and ID
Telefónica has adapted its mobile wallet to run on at least three NFC-enabled BlackBerry models from Research In Motion that support a...

Caen

France: Visa Europe to Launch Another microSD Trial in NFC Demo City
About 200 bank customers and employees will be able to tap their iPhones with a contactless attachment case and microSD cards to pay where...

Warsaw

Poland: Bank Trials iPhone Attachment with Visa payWave
The Warsaw-based bank, operating under the mBank and MultiBank brands, is trialing an NFC-enabled attachment to the iPhone 4 and 4S for...

Chicago and Salt Lake City

U.S.: Discover Financial to Trial iPhone Attachment with Employees
Discover Financial will conduct a pilot with 400 to 500 employees who work at Discover’s headquarters office near Chicago and a regional...

New York

U.S.: Nokia and New York Transit Authority to Test Tag-based Ticketing
The pilot will involve 20 Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA, employees, who will be able to tap NFC tags with Nokia smartphones...

Taipei

Taiwan: Attachment Enables iphone 4 with NFC for transit and retail...
Taiwan’s largest mobile operator, Chunghwa Telecom, designed the sleeve for Apple’s iPhone 4 with an NFC chip and embedded secure element...

Perm

Russia: Telco and Oil Company to Launch Mobile Pay at the Pumps
Customers will be able to tap their phones to pay at the gasoline pumps in the Russian city

South Korea

South Korea: KT Complements NFC Rollout with iPhone Add-ons
KT, South Korea’s second largest mobile operator, is distributing NFC-enabled iPhone attachments nationwide, p

Tempe

U.S.: University Tests Mobile Access Control with MicroSD Cards
The two-and-half month trial enables 32 students and staff to open the outer doors of a dormitory at the university by tapping their...
More recent updates...

Features Section

South Korea Takes Lead Globally in NFC Rollouts with Millions of Phones and SIMs

Published: Jan 12 2012
By: 
Dan Balaban

While mobile operators in most other countries are still struggling to roll out even scant volumes of NFC phones that can do payment, ticketing and other applications, South Korea’s telcos have already crossed the 5 million-phone mark–including NFC versions of such high-profile devices as the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note.

Read more »
TAGS:

The Year Ahead for NFC: Major M-Commerce Rollouts Unlikely Until 2013

Published: Dec 23 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

2012 was going to be the year that the new era of NFC-based mobile commerce had finally arrived–with Google Wallet rolling out widely, mobile operators in the U.S. and Europe making significant inroads with their own mobile wallets and big Asian m-commerce players generally commercializing NFC, as well.

Read more »
TAGS:

Maker of Rugged Phones Enters NFC Market; is Its Price Right?

Published: Sep 23 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Sonim Technologies, the maker of rugged work phones, has introduced its first NFC-enabled handset, betting that cleaning companies, security guard firms and home-health care agencies are ready for a more durable–and higher-priced–NFC phone for workforce management.

Read more »
TAGS:

UK Contactless to Reach a Tipping Point in 2011?

Published: Jul 27 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Contactless payment continues to grow rapidly in the United Kingdom, but transaction volume is still low, and it remains open to debate whether 2011 will be a tipping point for the technology.

Read more »
TAGS:

Report: Vast Majority of Consumers Will Need Push to Use NFC Payment

Published: Jul 6 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Fewer than 2% of consumers are “highly likely” to adopt NFC payments immediately after the technology is rolled out, according to UK-based research firm Datamonitor.

Read more »
TAGS:

Analysis: Quick Tap Launches Fast but Expect Slow Take-up

Published: Jun 9 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Mobile operator Orange UK and payment issuer Barclaycard face challenges as they seek to get their “Quick Tap” service off the ground, say UK analysts.

Read more »
TAGS:

Infineon to Focus on Market for NFC Secure Elements

Published: May 31 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

Germany-based chip maker Infineon Technologies has no plans to join its rivals in producing NFC chips–instead focusing on secure elements that can store payment and other applications in NFC phones.

Read more »
TAGS:

M-Pesa Mobile-Money Service to Use NFC? Not Anytime Soon

Published: Mar 29 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

The business development lead for Vodafone Group’s mobile payment solutions unit, which runs the popular M-Pesa mobile funds-transfer service in Kenya, said the telco has no plans to introduce NFC to the offer.

Read more »

In Open-Loop Drive, Transit Agencies Can’t Leave Unbanked Behind

Published: Mar 11 2011
By: 
Tom Zind

With Transport for London’s recent announcement confirming it would be the first big transit authority to accept bank cards for bus and metro fares, momentum continues to build for other large transit authorities to go to open-loop payment.

Read more »
TAGS:

DoCoMo Reveals Strategy for Its Move to NFC

Published: Mar 4 2011
By: 
Dan Balaban

NTT DoCoMo will sell "hybrid" NFC phones that support both standard NFC and domestic FeliCa technology from Japan’s Sony Corp. when the big telco makes its planned move to NFC late next year.

Read more »
TAGS:
More features...