Profiles

Google

Headquarters: 
United States

Google, which makes more than 95% of its revenue from Web advertising, sees a major opportunity to use NFC to help it take advantage of its Web search dominance with physical merchants and advertis

Inside Secure

Headquarters: 
France

France-based fabless chip supplier Inside Secure, though the end of 2011, was one of only two providers of NFC chips to handset makers, along with NXP Semiconductors. 

Isis

Headquarters: 
United States

The Isis joint venture, formed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, seeks to use the combined market clout of three major U.S. mobile carriers to roll out NFC phones and services.

Telefónica O2

Headquarters: 
United Kingdom

It seems just a matter of time before Telefónica O2 UK launches NFC commercially.

NXP Semiconductors

Headquarters: 
Netherlands

Co-creator of NFC with Sony, NXP's partnership with Google announced in late 2010 has given it a dominant position in shipments for NFC chips for Android phones.

Barclaycard

Headquarters: 
United Kingdom

While contactless retail payment in the UK has been slow to take off, don’t blame Barclaycard or its parent Barclays PLC.

Gemalto

Headquarters: 
France

Since its creation in 2006 from the merger of the two largest smart card makers at the time, Gemalto has billed itself as “the world leader in digital security.”

Chunghwa Telecom

Headquarters: 
Taiwan

Taiwan’s largest telco has been one of the major players in the country gearing up for NFC, having held at least three important trials.

JPMorgan Chase

Headquarters: 
United States

The largest issuer of contactless cards in the U.S. with 30 million deployed since 2005, JPMorgan Chase hasn’t held an NFC trial in a while. Its last public trial with the technology ended in 2006.

Bouygues Telecom

Headquarters: 
France

While Bouygues Telecom runs a distant third among mobile operators to its big rivals France Telecom-Orange and Vodafone-affiliated SFR, it punches well above its weight in NFC. 

Veolia Transport

Headquarters: 
France

Its planned merger with France-based competitor Transdev, announced in summer 2009, would make big transit operator Veolia Transport even bigger.

SmartTouch

Headquarters: 
Finland

A consortium of 23 organizations in eight countries, SmartTouch studies NFC and helps sponsor trials.

Discover Financial Services

Headquarters: 
United States

Discover’s Zip contactless application is accepted more than 100,000 merchant locations in the U.S. But until recently, you wouldn't have seen anyone tapping with Zip to pay.

Giesecke & Devrient

Headquarters: 
Germany

German smart card supplier Giesecke & Devrient has been interested in contactless-mobile technology for years.

France Telecom-Orange

Headquarters: 
France

France Telecom-Orange devotes considerable resources to NFC and mobile payment at its French and UK offices and R&D centers.

NFC Forum

Headquarters: 
United States

The most important trade group promoting Near Field Communication, the NFC Forum sets standards for the technology and evangelizes its uses.

Visa Inc. and Visa Europe

Headquarters: 
United States, United Kingdom

The U.S.-based card company Visa Inc. and its separate bank-owned affiliate, Visa Europe, share a brand and intellectual property on contactless payments and NFC.

Nokia

Headquarters: 
Finland

To those who criticize Nokia for the rather bland handsets it has outfitted with NFC and put onto the market, the handset maker responds–with some justification–that it has done more than any other phone maker to advance NFC technology.

MasterCard Worldwide

Headquarters: 
United States

MasterCard spearheaded the move to contactless-card payment in the U.S. with its PayPass technology.

A1

Headquarters: 
Austria

Austria’s largest mobile operator is also a European pioneer in mobile commerce.

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.

Moscow Metro Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.