Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has announced that more than 120,000 customers have downloaded its Kaching mobile banking and contactless payments app since its launch in December, according to iTWire. Commbank did not disclose how many out of those 120,000 are using the app’s contactless payments feature, which requires iPhone users to buy an NFC-enabled iCarte protective […]

Chinese handset maker ZTE Corporation has announced the launch of Touch and Share, a new service that enables users to quickly establish Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity between their mobile devices via NFC. According to ZTE, devices that feature Touch and Share are able to connect instantaneously without the need for users to scan for and […]

Astral Out-of-Home, a division of Canadian media company Astral Media, has announced the addition of NFC technology in its street advertisements throughout Toronto and Montréal. The new feature, developed in partnership with Gauge Mobile, enables smart phone users to tap their handsets against an ad to watch the trailer of an upcoming movie, get a […]

Poken, a provider of NFC tag-based marketing solutions, has received $2 million in an investment round led by Swisscom Ventures and Credit Suisse to expand its U.S. sales operations. In addition to the funding, Poken will move its headquarters from Switzerland to Paolo Alto, Calif. on April 1. The company has also appointed a new […]

Mobile payments start up Boku has received $35 million in funding from Telefonica Digital, the tech arm of Spanish mobile operator Telefonica, and New Enterprise Associates among other investors. According to Boku, the funding will be used to broaden the company’s infrastructure and expend its operations, which includes the recently launched NFC mobile payments service […]

The Marseille Tourist Office & Convention Bureau (OTCM) has launched a mobile city-pass that enables visitors to to take public transportation, access museums and city attractions and redeem discounts at local stores with a tap of an NFC-enabled handset. Based on Adelya’s NFC technology, the Marseille city-pass application is controlled via a Web-based back-office platform, […]

Less than a third of U.S. consumers would switch handsets in order to use their cell phones to make purchases, according to the latest Payment Report from Auriemma Consulting Group. Furthermore, ACG has found that just 23% of consumers would consider switching mobile telephone providers in order to obtain a phone that can perform mobile […]

New research from IMS shows that approximately 35% of NFC controllers shipped in 2016 will combine NFC technology with other wireless standard such as Bluetooth, 802.11, GPS and FM. According to IMS, the majority of NFC controllers to date have been standalone solutions that are embedded into end-devices and SD Cards or implemented as part […]

Korea’s KT and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo have announced that their international NFC coupon service will go live on April 1. The first product to come out of last year’s agreement between the two telecos, the NFC “roaming” coupon service will enable KT subscribers traveling to Japan to use NFC coupons at select stores within Japanese […]

Samsung is preparing to enter the mobile commerce arena with an NFC-enabled mobile payments service in the works that offers contactless, online and remote payments, a source told NFC Times. Samsung’s service will run on existing contactless payment technology, such as Visa payWave or MasterCard PayPass, and will come embedded on the handset maker’s future […]