Apple has been awarded a patent for its method of adding RFID reading capabilities to the touchscreen of a device, according to AppleInsider. The patent, “Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader,” details how the touch sensor panel of a device can be modified to incorporate RFID circuitry within touch sensor panel circuitry, thereby allowing the screen […]

Deutsche Bahn and NXP Semiconductors have decided to continue their co-operation on Touch&Travel, a mobile ticketing scheme piloted on Germany’s national railway. Touch&Travel enables train passengers to purchase e-tickets with NFC-enabled mobile phones. Customers need only tap their phone against an interactive “Touchpoint” station to select and purchase a ticket. Ticket data and payment information […]

Proxama has announced it will develop NFC applications for the new generation of Nokia smart phones, starting with the C7. The company is offering Nokia a complete NFC-driven service package featuring its TagCenter application, which lets users tap NFC data tags on posters, product packaging and point-of–sale displays for information, vouchers and more. TagCenter also […]

Rovio is introducing NFC to the mobile gaming world with a new Angry Birds game available exclusively to Nokia C7 users, according to Techradar.com. The latest version of the game, Angry Birds Magic, lets gamers tap their C7s together to destroy those precarious porcine structures in two-player mode, adding a new twist to one of […]

David Dorf, of the Insight-Driven Retail Blog, argues that the main advantage of NFC technology is its ability to be used for multiple purposes in the same transaction, i.e. couponing, loyalty and payment. But if using these services takes longer than it would to flip through your “real” wallet, what’s the point? In a test […]

The Atlanta Federal Reserve wants to put an end to erroneous fears over the security of mobile contactless payments, reports American Banker. According to the bank, a mobile device provides greater security than a common magnetic stripe credit card in that the device itself can be used as an authentication tool. For example, most if […]

GlobalPlatform, the organization that standardizes the management of applications on secure chip technology, has released two new specifications designed to facilitate interoperable communication between trusted service managers (TSMs) and the rest of the mobile NFC ecosystem. Free to download from GlobalPlatform’s website, the new specs address the communication needs of TSMs, which are independent third […]

TIMWE has announced the release of its NFC Launcher, a mobile application designed to automate the process of NFC tag interaction on smart phones. According to TIMWE, many NFC tags, such as those found on smart posters, carry customized data that can be read only by a particular mobile application. For some users, the hassle […]

MyVoucherCodes, makers of the eponymous mobile app that uses GPS to give users discounts, has conducted a survey finding that a majority of British smart phone users want NFC contactless technology. Of the 1,267 smart phone users polled, 672 (53%) said that they would welcome the new mobile phone technology, while a further 27% stated […]

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts rapid adoption of NFC services over the next three years, with at least one in five smart phones worldwide having NFC contactless functionality. Juniper predicts that almost 300 million NFC smart phones will be in use worldwide by 2014. North America is expected to account for half of […]