Google is experiencing a couple of minor glitches in the rollout of its nascent Google Wallet mobile payments service, according to Macworld. The company has reported “slower than normal” wait times for adding credit and debit cards to the Google Wallet, in addition to delayed over-the-air updates to Nexus S smart phones, with some users […]

Taiwan’s HTC Corporation is now offering customers in Chongqing City of western China an NFC-enabled smart phone geared towards mobile payments, according to Focus Taiwan. HTC, which signed a deal last month with China Union pay to sell its ‘Stunning’ NFC handset in China, launched its latest ‘Jiang Yu banking’ phone last week through the […]

Merseytravel, the transport authority for Merseyside County, England, has announced the launch of its new smart fare card, the Walrus. Modeled after London’s Oyster card, the Walrus enables contactless ticketing on Merseyside’s rail, bus and ferry systems, as well as small value purchases at supporting merchants. Neil Scales, chief executive at Merseytravel, explains: “We are […]

Broadcom Corp. announced a new family of NFC chips designed to drive the mass deployment of NFC consumer devices. The first ever NFC chips to be manufactured in the 40 nanometer CMOS process, Broadcom’s BCM2079x family consumes 90 percent less power than other chips, uses 40 percent fewer components and has a 40% smaller board […]

Sonim Technologies has revealed the world’s first ‘ultra-rugged’ NFC phone, the XP1301 CORE NFC. Now on display at the NFC World Congress, the XP1301 is designed to provide NFC-enabled real time business intelligence for markets such as cleaning, security, facilities management, equipment maintenance and home visit health care. According to Sonim, the device can take […]

South Korean teleco KT has launched Wireless Dynamic’s NFC-enabled protective case for the iPhone 4. The Apple-approved iCarte 420K attaches directly onto the iPhone to enable contactless applications through KT’s Olleh Touch NFC service. Customers using the service can load credit and debit cards onto their phone to make payments at participating merchants, as well […]

IMS Research has released a new report predicting that global contactless smart card shipments will increase from 950 million in 2010 to 3.5 billion in 2016. According to “The World Market for Smart Cards and Smart Card ICs – 2011 Edition,” contactless bank cards will drive most of the growth – primarily from the People’s […]

Orange has announced the debut of its M-Stadium mobile contactless ticketing project with the Stade Malherbe Caen. Led by Orange’s research facility in Caen, the M-Stadium project uses mobile contactless technology to cover a spectators’ entire stadium experience, from buying and using e-tickets to reading interactive tags in and around the venue. The trial debuted […]

PATCO, the high speed rail line that runs between Philadelphia and Camden County, N.J., will introduce new contactless Visa fare cards, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The prepaid Visa card will join the existing contactless Freedom card as part of a one-year open fare payments trial on PATCO run by Cubic Transportation Systems. The Visa […]

Visa has announced that it will license its payWave contactless payment technology to Google for its mobile payments and loyalty service, Google Wallet. The agreement sets the stage for banks worldwide to enable Visa account holders to add their credit, debit and prepaid accounts to Google Wallet – a mobile app that lets NFC-enabled smart […]