Google looks poised for an acquisition of BlackBerry smart phone manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM), according to Anton Wahlman, a former telecom stock analyst with UBS, Needham & Co., and ThinkEquity. The deal, which Whalman says has a 50-50 shot at happening, would give Google access to RIM’s celebrated security technology in order to better […]

ABI Research has released a new report predicting that China will see more than $8 billion in NFC payments by 2014. According ABI, Chinese device manufacturers and operators like ZTE are keen to move ahead with contactless mobile payments. This is due in part to an enormous market with more than 868 million cell phone […]

RIM has announced the launch of its new BlackBerry OS7 operating system along with five brand new smart phones – two which will be NFC-enabled, according to Finextra. Both the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Bold 9930 will come equipped with NFC chips, making them ready for a host applications including contactless payments, tag reading, device […]

Samsung has announced a new entry-level smart phone equipped with NFC technology, according to ITproportal.com. The Player City handset is powered by the MIDP 2.1 platform with a Dolphin browser and features a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen, 30MB of onboard storage, Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi and a 3.2-megapixel camera in addition to NFC. The phone will also […]

A new application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod called FaceCash offers face recognition as a means of identity verification for mobile-based payments made at brick and mortar points of sale, according to an International Business Times New York article. Essentially, what the FaceCash app enables a user to do is replace his credit cards or […]

Turkcell has announced a partnership with Ticket Restaurant to pilot a meal payment program based on NFC technology. Operating on the Cep-T Cuzdan mobile wallet service, the new system enables Turkcell employees to embed their Ticket Restaurant meal cards into their NFC-enabled SIM card, enabling them to pay for lunch with just a simple tap […]

MasterCard is teaming up with Georgian banks to launch mobile payments as soon as next year, according to Finchannel.com. Kemal Uyan, regional business development director for MasterCard South East Europe, told Finchannel.com that the company is looking to roll out an NFC service called MOTAPS for contactless transactions at the point of sale, as well […]

To assist in the tracking of its extensive wine collection, Tristan turned to Traza and Nordic ID to help design and implement an RFID system that would enable quick and accurate identification and traceability. Tristan operates an international group of gourmet restaurants with widespread inventories which stretch across three warehouses. Prior to the RFID system, […]

Kyocera is launching an NFC update for its Android-based Echo handset, according to Ubergizmo.com. Scheduled to launch today, the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update will deliver NFC support to the dual-touchscreen Echo. Ubergizmo says this will enable handset to perform contactless payments, store loyalty cards and read tags and posters. In addition to NFC, the update […]

Dublin-based tech firm TicketFriend has launched a new NFC-based contactless ticketing app for Android phones, according to Siliconrepublic.com. The first of its kind, this end-to-end system allows users to purchase, store and redeem event tickets all from their NFC-enabled smart phone. The system also allows promoters to target customers with customized ticketing options for their […]