Canada’s banking and credit union groups have come together to create a set of open guidelines for the development of mobile payments at point-of-sale in Canada. This “Mobile Reference Model” will serve as a blueprint for how mobile payment capabilities can be offered in the Canadian market, including guidelines on how financial information is exchanged […]

Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture created by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, has revealed the first of its local merchant partners across Austin and Salt Lake City. Aéropostale, The Coca-Cola Company, Champs Sports, Dillard’s, Foot Locker, Jamba Juice and Macy’s have joined Isis as national partners, along with a number of local grocery stores, retailers, […]

The Smart Card Alliance has announced the formation of the Mobile and NFC Council, a new industry body tasked with accelerating the adoption of NFC and raising awareness of the technology’s various capabilities. “Many think of payments when they hear NFC, but the technology opens the door to many industries for innovative applications, such as […]

Mobey Forum, a bank-led mobile commerce association, has announced that it is now participating in the Trusted Computing Group’s (TCG) Industry Liaison Program in order to enhance the development of security standards in mobile financial services. The partnership will enable Mobey Forum and the TCG to share members’ security requirements and use this combined knowledge […]

Mobile operator Digicel Pacific Limited has announced the deployment of VeriFone’s mWallet services and NFC-enabled payment systems in the Kingdom of Tonga. Starting this week, Digicel subscribers in the the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa will be able to receive NFC tags that are linked to their mobile phone numbers and VeriFone’s contactless payment acceptance systems. Customers […]

Virgin Mobile has set a May 15 launch date for the LG Optimus Elite, the first device in the operator’s lineup to feature NFC and Google Wallet. Debuted by Sprint last month, the Optimus Elite runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and features a 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreen, 800 MHz processor and 5MP rear-facing camera. With […]

Sprint has announced its latest NFC-enabled mobile phone, the HTC Evo 4G LTE. Set to debut on May 18, the $199.99 handset will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and come with Google Wallet, making it the fourth phone from Sprint to offer the service, behind the Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus and the recently-launched […]

Startup iCache has developed a mobile wallet solution for the iPhone that enables users consolidate all of their payment, loyalty and membership cards onto one smart card. The protective Geode case, priced at $199, features a magnetic stripe reader that enables users to input their payment card info on the free Geode app. From there, […]

American Express has announced that it is adding its Consumer, Open Small Business and Serve cards to the Isis Mobile Wallet platform. American Express now joins Chase, Capitol One and BarclayCard in enabling its card holders to make NFC payments and collect rewards using an Isis-enabled mobile phone. “Now our card members and merchants can […]

South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has added a new feature to its mobile app that enables users to make peer-to-peer payments via GPS technology. The new “GeoPayments” service leverages a smart phone’s embedded GPS chip to connect FNB banking app users up to 500 meters apart, enabling them to wirelessly send and receive funds […]