Google Wallet and Payments Vice President Osama Bedier has posted an open letter defending the safety of Google Wallet in response to last week’s revelation that the app’s PIN security feature may be hacked using a “Wallet Cracker” app. Maintaining that Google Wallet offers numerous security advantages over plastic cards, Bedier said that any vulnerabilities […]

Global communications agency Isobar has announced the winners of Create 32, Silicon Valley’s first hackathon exploring NFC technology on commercially available smart phones. The event, held at APPNATION III from November 30 – December 1, 2011, attracted more than 40 developers and creators to develop new uses for NFC technology and produced seven working prototypes […]

Proxama has announced a partnership with semiconductor supplier ARM Holdings to create secure payment mechanisms for mobile handsets. The UK-based partners say they will combine ARM’s TrustZone technology with Proxama’s Mobile Wallet to develop a “highly secure” environment for NFC-enabled mobile contactless payments and mobile internet payments. According to Proxama, 2012 is set to be […]

MarketResearch.com has released a new report predicting that approximately 46% of all mobile phones will be NFC-enabled by 2016 – up from just 5% in 2011. According to the report, “Near Field Communication Market Global Forecast &Analysis (2011-2016) By Products,” the NFC applications market will grow “exponentially” alongside the handset market, with revenues jumping from […]

Visa, in partnership with Monitise, has launched a suite of new mobile financial services on its revamped Debit Processing Service platform, enabling mobile phone users to check their account history and balances, transfer funds between accounts, and receive real-time transaction alerts. Visa says it will soon expand the services to include NFC-enabled mobile payments, as […]

Web security provider Zvelo has uncovered a way crack the Google Wallet PIN security feature. Using an app called “Wallet Cracker,” Zvelo was able to expose the PIN of a Google Wallet account without entering a single invalid attempt – five invalid attempts and the wallet locks out. Check out the video for a demonstration: […]

Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is preparing to launch a massive NFC payments pilot in Salt Lake City this summer, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The pilot, which will also be conducted in Austin, Tex., represents a major push by the U.S. payments industry to get customers and merchants […]

Japan’s Fukumi Corporation has opened the world’s first physical shop for NFC tags, applications, starter kits and printing and encoding services in Yaesu, Tokyo. In addition to NFC hardware, the “RFID/NFC Real Touch Shop” offers NFC consulting and guidance services and enables customers to experience real-world NFC applications. All NFC tags offered at Fukumi’s store […]

Nokia has revealed a new application for smart phones that translates what you say into another language and transmits the message to another user via NFC. According to GigaOm, “Nokia Hello” combines NFC with existing speech-to-text translation technology to enable two people who speak different languages to have a conversation by tapping their phones together. […]

CoVantage Credit Union (CVCU) announced the availability of Tyfone’s mobile wallet services throughout its branches in Wisconsin and Michigan. Some 64,000 CVCU members can now use Tyfone’s mobile banking services, which include balance checking, account history review, fund transfers, branch and ATM location look-up, as well as several new features: Mobile banking for non-online bankers: […]