HEADLINE NEWS

China Brewing Mobile-Payment Standard

Published: Aug 31 2010

The Ministry of Information Technology and Industry is looking to rally its nascent mobile payment industry around a single technology standard with the hope of cashing in on the world's largest mobile population. (TMCnet)

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Consumers Union Calls for Mobile-Payment Regulations

Published: Aug 25 2010

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher behind Consumer Reports magazine, is calling on federal regulators to take measures guaranteeing that existing consumer protections are applied to new mobile payment solutions. (FierceMobileContent)

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Contactless Loyalty Scheme Gets Boost From Deal with Acquirer

Published: Aug 17 2010

A deal between loyalty-scheme operator Zapa Technology and Ireland’s largest merchant acquirer, AIB Merchant Services, could see Zapa’s contactless stickers rolled out more widely in Ireland and also gain a foothold in the United Kingdom.

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Standard Seeks to Create More Secure PIN Entry for NFC Payment

Published: Aug 13 2010

As prospects for NFC-based mobile payment heat up, banks and payment brands are left with the problem of how to secure high-value transactions.

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U.S. Telco Joint Venture Now Looking for Phones, CEO

Published: Aug 9 2010

Major U.S. mobile carriers planning to launch an NFC-based payment service have been ramping up hiring and are preparing to order NFC phones, but are still looking for a CEO, sources told NFC Times.

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Turkish Bank Seeks to Launch microSDs with Visa payWave

Published: Aug 5 2010
Aug 5 2010

Turkey’s Akbank is planning to launch contactless microSD cards to customers with Visa payWave onboard, which would be a first in Europe.

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U.S. Mobile Operators Plan For 2011 Launch of NFC Payment

Published: Aug 2 2010
Aug 3 2010

U.S mobile carriers Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile USA hope to launch precommercial trials of their planned mobile-payment service in the third quarter of 2011, sources told NFC Times.

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NatWest Bank Drops Out of O2 Money Partnership

Published: Jul 30 2010

NatWest bank is dropping out of its O2 Money partnership with mobile operator Telefónica O2, leaving the telco looking for a new partner with which to offer prepaid payment cards and, later, NFC services in the competitive UK market, NFC Times has learned.

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Hong Kong E-Payment Firm Admits Selling Customer Data

Published: Jul 30 2010
Aug 5 2010

Hong Kong's Octopus Holdings has admitted to selling its customers' personal information since January 2006 and pocketing HK$44 million (US$5.7 million) from doing so. (ZDNet Asia)

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U.S. Telcos and Banks Attend Informal Meetings Convened by Fed

Published: Jul 29 2010
Aug 2 2010

While major U.S. banks and mobile operators are not apparently working together on mobile payment, they have attended meetings together convened by U.S. central bank officials, who want the parties to reach common ground on standards, infrastructure and business models.

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Innovision CEO Steps Aside as Acquisition by Broadcom Moves Forward

Published: Jul 26 2010

UK-based NFC technology company Innovision announced today its CEO, David Wollen, has left the company, as the acquisition of Innovision by U.S.-based chip maker Broadcom moves forward.

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Man Behind Toronto Transit's Push for 'Open Payment' Sticks to His Guns

Published: Jul 26 2010

The New York-based transit guru behind the Toronto Transit Commission's controversial move toward “open payment” says he believes the electronic fare system would cost Toronto “a small fraction” of the cost of adopting the province’s Presto smart card. (Toronto Star)

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Spain: Country's Largest Telco Plans Big Payment Trial

Published: Feb 12 2010
Sitges, Spain
Scope: 
Trial
Launch: 
May 2010
Main Application: 
Payment
Mobile Operator: 
Telefónica
Service Provider (application): 
La Caixa (Visa payWave)
Merchants: 
500
Users: 
1,500
NFC Handsets: 
Samsung S5230 Star
TSM*: 
Telefónica
Secure Element: 
SIM
Other Vendors: 
Gemalto (SIM card), Giesecke & Devrient (SIM card for MWC demo), NXP Semiconductors (NFC phone chip)

The planned six-month “Mobile Shopping” trial is set to enable 1,500 customers of Telefónica and La Caixa bank to tap to pay at 500 shops in the resort town of Sitges near Barcelona. Plans call for distributing a large number of NFC phones supporting the payment application on the telco’s SIM cards. Telefónica also designed what it called a graphically appealing mobile wallet for the trial. Telefónica, La Caixa and Visa launched a preview of the trial at the Mobile World Congress, demonstrating the payment service by issuing 400-500 Samsung handsets to attendees, who can tap to pay at more than 30 merchants equipped to accept Visa payWave around the congress center. The telco also plans a large internal trial at its headquarters in Spain.

NFC Times Take: 

Telefónica Spain is getting more deeply involved in NFC with this large trial. The telco has been an early backer of NFC and of using the SIM cards to store applications. Sure enough, this trial uses a new Samsung phone that can carry the planned Visa payment application on the SIM with a standard single-wire protocol connection to the NFC chip in the phone. The trial will probably use Samsung’s new S5230 Player One touch-screen NFC model, which will also be tried out by French operators for an even larger project scheduled to launch this spring. Telefónica will also serve as TSM, handling the downloads and management of the application on the SIMs. Users will be able to view the application and related information and features from a mobile wallet the telco provides. It’s not clear whether that user interface will also be stored on the SIM. Telefónica also plans a large internal trial during Q2 of 2010 at its headquarters, with both open-loop and close-loop payment, metro ticketing, and access control.

 

* Trusted Service Manager: Defined loosely to include companies or other organizations securely distributing, provisioning and managing applications, generally over the air, on secure elements in NFC mobile phones; or licensing their platforms for this purpose.

N/A: Not available or not applicable.
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