NFC Nokia N9 release date on Orange Switzerland

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

NFC Nokia N9 release date on Orange Switzerland

For the most part, news on when we might get our hands on the NFC Nokia N9 has been non-existent since the sweet, sweet MeeGo smartphone was announced. However, now over at Orange Switzerland the NFC Nokia N9 has a coming soon page with launch date of release stated to be 15th of September. Last month, 3 Group said the phone would arrive by the 23rd of September but this new date is edging the phone closer to release.

NFC Nokia N9 specifications

The NFC Nokia N9 has that fabulous polycarbonate shell and has no physical buttons aside from the volume rocker / camera button. The user interface is super clean, polished and uncluttered and the overall look of the phone is aesthetically pleasing and well designed. The NFC Nokia N9 comes with storage options that include a 16GB or a 64GB choice, which puts it ahead of the game in storage capacity. The phone comes with 1GB of RAM too, which is very welcome. As far as processor, the NFC Nokia N9 MeeGo smartphone skips along with the OMAP3630 1 GHz processor backed up with a PowerVR SGX530 to handle graphics. The NFC Nokia N9 isn’t skating on LTE but does have GSM and penta-band WCDMA radios so data shouldn’t be like waiting for continents to shift.

read more

Poken helping Nokia with its NFC vision

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Poken helping Nokia with its NFC vision

Nokia and  Switzerland-based startup Poken have teamed up to bring everything NFC, aside from payments, to Nokia’s product offerings. Nokia has been playing around with NFC for years now but in the last few months has become serious about bringing the technology to the masses. We have seen phones released, announced or rumored such as the Nokia C7 / Astound, the Nokia N9, N5, Zeta and Cindy. Yes, Nokia is chasing the NFC opportunity with great gusto and to help it become a formidable force with NFC it has partnered with a couple of firms. We already know that the Norfolk based firm Proxama, who has worked with Nokia to bring NFC sweetness to its NFC smartphones. But now we learn about a bigger part of its strategy that involves Poken.

Nokia has stayed away from NFC mobile wallets and so has Poken

Over the next 18 months, Nokia is projected to ship more than 100 million NFC-enabled smartphones globally. So far all Nokia phones have shipped without secure elements or support for the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), which would provide support for an NFC SIM issued by a mobile network operator, mobile payments are off the table.

read more

Apple, NFC, iPhone 5, iPad 3, rumors, blah, blah, and more blah

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Apple, NFC, iPhone 5, iPad 3, rumors, blah, blah, and more blah

Apple, NFC, iPad 3, iPhone 5…is it just us, or is it getting a little repetitive? Ever heard the phrase “there’s nothing to fear but fear itself?” We suggest it gets changed to “there’s nothing to Apple, but Apple itself” because at the end of the day all the speculation is just that, until we hear from Mr. Jobs. The frenzy field that emanates from Cupertino may block out the sun if it gets any more hyped, and the mastery of Apple is that it is generated because the company keeps quiet and plays dead until its ready to roll over and offer us a treat.

In a week where a bomber killed innocent people in Norway, the US is about to go broke, and Amy Winehouse passed away, we still found time for what seems to be a billion Apple rumors. Because that’s what’s important, right? Well, that and Rupert Murdoch getting a pie in his face because his media empire has been found to be sleazy. (Spoiler alert: Perhaps aside from the BBC and a few others, all mega media conglomerates are sleazy. It’s like gravity, it just is that way.)

We ourselves have written a myriad of articles on the business case for NFC in the iPad 3 and iPhone 5.

read more

NFC phones get a boost as smartphone sales set to top 1 billion in 2016

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

NFC phones get a boost as smartphone sales set to top 1 billion in 2016

NFC phones could be set for more adoption if smartphone figures out this week are representative of potential growth in the marketplace. According to new research out this week, smartphone sales are set to explode over the next few years. Data house IMS Research released a new report that focuses on the growth of smartphones globally and foresees the massive growth that we have seen so far as a mere drop in the old proverbial bucket. The firm projects that sales of smartphones in 2011 will exceed 420 million devices and represent 28% of the market share of all handsets sold. This represents huge growth in the smartphone market and only bodes well for  NFC phones, which can utilize the extra power and capabilities for payment applications and more. IMS Research predicts that annual sales will surpass one billion devices by the end of 2016, accounting for one of every two mobile handsets sold.

read more

Hungarians are hungry for NFC Payments as MNOs collaborate to form the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Hungarians hungry for NFC as MNO’s collaborate to form the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association

Magyar Telekom, Telenor and Vodafone join forces with MasterCard to form the NFC focused Isis like Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association.

It looks like Hungary is well on its way to getting an NFC structure and services plan together today, as three of the largest mobile network operators join forces with MasterCard, OTP Bank and the loyalty program provider SuperShop to form the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association.

“The aim of the Association is to design and articulate as a recommendation the prerequisite technological standards for mobile NFC services and to submit proposals towards the successful implementation of the service, to ensure that partners may freely join the service as well as to implement the necessary education related to the implementation of the innovative mobile NFC services.” This type of collaboration is similar to what was called for by Bruce Mansfield, Managing Director of EFTPOS in Australia.

“Magyar Telekom, Telenor and Vodafone have recognised this need and the importance to cooperate and they have joined arm-in-arm with three market leader operators – MasterCard, OTP Bank and SuperShop – to establish the Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association.”

The Hungarian Mobile Wallet Association wants to bring NFC services live this year

“This united move of Hungary’s MNOs may ensure that Hungary will be among the first countries where mobile NFC services may be launched in Europe. The previously articulated plans of the 6 market players feature test applications and, subsequently, commercial applications to be launched in 2011 and, respectively, 2012.”

read more

BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phone video tutorial leaked [videos]

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phone video tutorial leaked [videos]

The BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phone has been rumored since May, although very little details have emerged. Unproved videos on YouTube are now cropping up showing tutorials on how to use the device. BlackBerry said they were releasing seven smartphones in the near future, but the BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 is yet another iteration of the other two BlackBerry Bolds that are yet to be released – does that count as another smartphone?

BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phone Aesthetics

We have to say the quality at least looks second to none. The BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phone shares its form factor with the 9700 and 9780 predecessors but looks as if it has slightly rounder edges. The big difference is the addition of the touchscreen which will no doubt please CrackBerry fans globally. What strikes us about the aesthetics of the BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 is that it really doesn’t differ or make a statement above and beyond what came before it. When you consider that RIM isn’t doing so great at selling these devices, it makes us remember the old saying ” the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The specifications look great, but it still looks a little dated even considering how thin the device is reputed to be.

read more

LG Gelato LS685 Android Gingerbread NFC phone rumor

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

LG Gelato/ LG Optimus Net LS685 Android Gingerbread NFC phone rumor

The LG Gelato LS685 Gingerbread NFC phone has been found in a leaked roadmap for LG’s phone line up for 2011. We announced it last week as the LG Optimus Net NFC phone, which is the name Sprint will be marketing the NFC phone under. We now have a couple of new interesting details about the LS685 LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net. Firstly, images like the one above are cropping up showing Sprint logos on the front and rumors suggest that the LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net could launch as soon as this month. However, that may not be the NFC version and as you can see in LG’s press release below as they are somewhat vague about where LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net NFC phones would be released. Word on the street is that the US may get its hands on the NFC version in Q4 so it may not be a case of never, but if not when?

LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net and full LG 2011 roadmap leaked

LG has not been doing so well against its arch nemesis Samsung this year, and so it is a little surprising that when we see the leaked roadmap for the rest of 2011, we see a severe lack of superphones. Most models appear to be mid-low range and there really isn’t anything to is likely to rival rumored phones that are due to launch or even to give the Samsung Galaxy S II a run for its money. The LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net is the only NFC phone on the leaked document which casts doubt on LG producing any stiff competition in the NFC phone market. The leaked list contained the LG Gelato / LG Optimus Net and the following upcoming phones.

read more

Nokia N9 NFC phone is through the FCC, see the N9 naked

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Nokia N9 NFC phone is through the FCC

On seeing the Nokia N9 NFC phone clear through the FCC, we can’t help reflect on the end of an era. The Nokia N9 NFC phone has looks that could kill and industrial design that would make an Apple fan look twice. It also flourishes a finish that screams quality and fun loving times, but those times are a changing. The simplified UI of MeeGo only adds the the Nokia N9′s charm and yet it will have no off spring, no cousins and no future outside of its current iteration, and that seems such a waste. Symbian is heading the way that the great lizards, dinosaurs and horse drawn cart went. Dodos prepare to meet great Nokia handsets of the past as they exit this plane of existence and become extinct, as Espoo ushers in the age of Microkia. Nokia MeeGo devices were said to be such a way forward, and yet the N9 will stand as the only example of its species for all time. In a year or two, we will reflect on what might have been if Nokia hadn’t put all its eggs in the Microsoft Windows Phone basket. But for now ladies and gentlemen, may we present the Nokia N9, a smartphone that is and will remain unique.

What the FCC documentation shows us about the mighty Nokia N9 NFC phone

On most FCC documents, you are lucky if you get a line drawing. Companies these days rely on secrecy to be able to make big splash announcements. That is certainly true of the Nokia N5 that just cleared the FCC yesterday. However, the Nokia N9 NFC phone has nothing to hide and was posted with a set of postmortem shots of its beautiful innards. Without further ado, here are the specs that were shared for the FCC’s purposes.

read more

1st NFC smart poster consumer marketing campaign for US

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

1st NFC smart poster social media marketing campaign for US

Proxama deploys the first US NFC smart poster campaign for VH-1′s Basketball Wives

The US gets its first NFC smart poster campaign today, thanks to the folks over at Proxama. We have discovered a simple equation that seems to define NFC smart poster marketing so far: fun + interactive x marketing / contactless = Proxama. The company seems to be involved whenever there is an interesting marketing campaign in the offing and today is no exception, as the company announces its involvement in another NFC smart poster campaign for VH-1′s new show Basketball Wives. This isn’t the first NFC smart poster campaign that the UK outfit has been involved in. They were also the people behind the X-Men: First Class campaign in London, which saw 20 smart posters in and around London with NFC tags embedded that linked to the movie’s Facebook page.

Neil Garner, Founder and CEO of Proxama said, “I am delighted that Proxama has been chosen to be the NFC partner for this exciting project. It is very important that we are able to demonstrate to advertisers, businesses and consumers the potential that NFC offers which is why we are running this campaign in tandem with a leading handset manufacturer in Nokia and outdoor media specialists Hyperspace.”

NFC smart poster campaigns are in their infancy at the moment but show great promise as a medium to have physical marketing pieces that consumers can interact with. The nature of smart posters is frictionless and the medium allows for different calls to action to be embedded straight into objects such as cards, posters, window signage or anything else. Smart posters also allow for great analytics which are a very attractive concept for marketers. We have mentioned before that some of the NFC Rumors team are marketers, and what we are attracted to in smart posters is the opportunity to start engagement and conversations with consumers straight from an inanimate object that earns and provides the opportunity to allow permission based contact with end users in the future. Listing building hasn’t died, it’s simply evolved and you can expect to see a lot more utilization of this approach over the coming years. NFC smart posters are not limited to movie posters in malls, but will also appears on packaging for products you buy and use everyday.

read more

Galaxy S II spotted, and is heading to Sprint as the Galaxy S Within, but is it the NFC i9101?

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Galaxy S II spotted and is heading to Sprint as the Galaxy S Within, but is it the NFC i9101?

The CDMA Samsung Galaxy S Within i9101, or as we more commonly know it, Samsung Galaxy S II, has been spotted all dressed up and ready to roll with Sprint branding. The Galaxy S II has certainly taken its sweet time to get here after launching in Korea ages ago and in the UK in June. The rumor has indicated that the smartphone will be available on the “Now Network” on July 24th, from an uncertain Sprint employee. So, your oh so long wait could be over and you may well be walking around with the Galaxy S Within your pocket. Another piece of related news is that the Samsung Galaxy S Within is said to ship with Android 2.3.4, so it would presumably support Google Talk video chat straight out of the gate. From the leaked photographs, we see that the camera housing has changed shape from a rectangular opening to an oval one.We also see a large Sprint logo adorning the back of the case, but what we don’t see is the FCC certification. If the phone is indeed due to launch on the 24th of this month, we would expect to see it come through the FCC soon.

Is the Galaxy S Within, the i9101 NFC phone?

There has been a lot of speculation as to whether the U.S. launch of the Galaxy S Within is in fact the Galaxy S II GT-i9101 NFC smartphone. Some media outlets are swearing that it is the NFC variant of the by now legendary superphone but there has been no evidence surface to confirm this. Other rumors are suggesting that the Samsung Galaxy S II GT-i9101 is due to be released in the UK by the end of this month, which if true, does add credence to the possibility that the Sprint Galaxy S Within could well be the i9101.

read more

Sprint slashes price of the Google Nexus S NFC phone

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Sprints slashes price of the Google Nexus S 4G NFC phone

Pick up a Google Nexus S 4G for $99 today or pay half of that with Wirefly and Amazon

It was only last week that we reported that you could pick a Google Nexus S 4G up for $49. Since then, Sprint has slashed the price of the Google Nexus S to $99 on a two year contract. Obviously the deals we reported will save you a further $50 that you can spend on whatever your heart desires, but it’s interesting to see the Google Nexus S being reduced to bargain basement pricing when it is far more capable than other phones that currently cost you twice as much or more. It is either being reduced to make way for the Google Nexus Prime, or it may be that Sprint and Google want to capitalize on the Google Nexus S 4G while it is still the only NFC phone on the market that will work with Google Wallet and has a secure element. Remember, it will also get Ice Cream Sandwich faster than any other phone. $50 is buying a lot of phone today, s0 here are the links where you can pick up a Google Nexus S 4G for $49- Samsung Nexus S 4G at Amazon or head over to WireFly. Head on after the break for full Google Nexus S 4G specifications and to see the video.

read more

LG Optimus Net Android NFC phone

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

LG Optimus Net Android NFC phone

Meet the LG Optimus Net NFC phone that was announced by LG Electronics earlier today. So, LG went and finally got itself an NFC Android NFC phone that doesn’t look like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on its way down. The LG Optimus Net NFC phone is the first Android set that the company has produced and is a aimed at a budget conscience market with specifications that match. When you consider you can pick up an invariably more powerful Nexus S for $99 these days, we imagine the LG Optimus Net NFC phone is destined to be free or better when it comes with a two year binding contract. LG also announced its Optimus Pro, which doesn’t have NFC. Despite its Pro name, it has lower specifications than the LG Optimus Net Android NFC phone.

LG Optimus Net NFC phone features

Specifications for the LG Optimus Net NFC phone are a little light on the ground at the moment, but we will give you what we have. The LG Optimus Net is a phone aimed with social networking in mind. It runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) so it will be able to handle most things you chuck at it. However, the company foresees the little handset being used socially and so have included a feature called LG Social+ (Google+, LG Social+ – coincidence or trendy new name we may see in lots of cheap electronics that refer to social networking?). The LG Optimus Net is said to combine the most popular social networking portals in one convenient widget right on the home screen. With a single click, users can multitask between updating their status on Facebook and Twitter while reading their friends’ social media feeds on the same screen.

read more

WP7 NFC phone rumors

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

WP7 NFC phone rumors

Okay, so it starts – let the WP7NFC phone rumors commence. Since the back end of March, rumors have been circulating that Microsoft is planning to go into the NFC payments market, but until now there has been nary a word about what WP7 phones would enable this to happen. What is known at this point is that Japan has more NFC phones than you could shake a stick at, so perhaps it is no surprise that WP7 NFC phone rumors are linked to current Japanese NFC phones.

In Japan, many manufacturers have NFC phones on the market including Toshiba, Sharp and Fujitsu to name just a few. Most are based on the Android platform and have been steadily released since late last year. As an illustration of just how many NFC phones the Japanese have, take a look at a listing of phones on three of the country’s carriers.

read more

Samsung Romania may have confirmed Google Nexus Prime rumors

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Samsung Romania may have unwittingly confirmed Google Nexus Prime rumors

Did Samsung just out itself with regards to the rumored Google Nexus Prime NFC phone? It may well have on its Romanian Twitter feed, what seemingly confirms the existence of the Nexus Prime NFC beast. Oh, how we love sharp eyed reporters and PR faux-pas early in the morning! The Romanian paper, Ziarul Financiar recently mirrored trusted rumors that BGR had received and the Samsung Romania PR team tweeted the article on Twitter. Why would they do that if there was no truth in the rumor? Ha! Caught red-handed. Whether or not this is a misstep, it appears to the outside world to confirm the rumor. The Google Nexus Prime tweets have since been removed but we have a screenshot after the break for your viewing pleasure.

read more

Europe’s mobile operators plan to fragment NFC hotspot branding

Posted by Seth Planck

1comments

Europe’s mobile operators plan to fragment NFC hotspot branding

We are on our soapbox again today, and this time it is about the fragmentation of NFC hotspot branding. The great thing about NFC is that it works on the same standards all over the globe; except apart from in Japan, which uses a slightly different format called FeliCa. FeliCa happens to also be supported by most readers anyway so no harm done. These standards were defined by the NFC-Forum so that the technology was cohesive and could be used anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you are in Hong Kong or in Canada, thanks to the NFC-Forum your mobile payments and NFC phone should work just fine where ever you travel. The NFC-Forum also designed a custom N-mark to signify that an object, piece of POS or a piece of technology was NFC capable and again, this makes sense to have an icon that informs consumers with a quick look that they can use their NFC phone with whatever it is they have encountered. What would undo this great collaboration would be if a group decided to fragment NFC hotspot branding.

Problems brewing for NFC standards as fragmentation begins in NFC hotspot branding

One of the problems with the world is that everyone always wants to put their own mark of ownership on things. In the US, the mobile carriers insist on the same phone that is sold world over being named something completely different. It is confusing and it does not really help consumers. Don’t even get us started between English and American words and the apparent need to change word meanings to differentiate the two dialects. The point is these small differences keep us apart in subtle ways and break down understanding. NFC wasn’t meant to be that way – it is supposed to be a ubiquitous technology that is the same the world over.

read more

Europe’s Margento is all about contactless mobile payments

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Europe’s Margento is all about contactless mobile payments

Here at NFC Rumors we have a passion for all contactless technology – after all, that is what the C in our NFC name stands for. If it enables convergence and streamlines life, especially if it is secure and enhances user experience. Whether that be payments, speakers, routers, door locks, social networking check-ins… the list goes on. We thought we knew the players in the contactless mobile payments industry, and just this weekend we were blindsided by a company who has existed since 1991 and has been conducting contactless mobile payments since 2008! Meet Margento – yup, you read it correctly “Margento” and not Magento, which is the open source e-commerce company eBay just swallowed up. The M in Margento is for mobile and the argento part is a long story but is related to the latin word “Argentum” which means silver in Latin and is associated with banking and transactions from way back when, but we digress.

Okay, back on track. Someone contacted us from Margento a few days ago to say, “Hey, we exist and we do payments – why aren’t you writing about us?” Well, that’s not an exact quote but you get the point. In fact, it appears very few have written about Margento, and they are a somewhat unknown white label provider familiar only to their partners. By the time you have finished reading this article, you are going to wonder how no one has brought this technology to the U.S. So, we did a little research and were amazed at what we found. We were so impressed we got together with somebody from the company to learn a little more, and now we have the skinny for you. [Largest introduction to a post eveeeeer.]
Skip past the break for lots more information and videos

read more

3G iPod Touch rumor claims that Apple may launch in September, NFC iPod?

Posted by Seth Planck

1comments

3G iPod Touch rumor claims that Apple may launch in September, NFC iPod?

Apple will launch a new 3G iPod touch in September, claimed a Dutch Apple blog named AppleSpot on Friday. Okay, let’s start off by acknowledging this is a long shot. If Apple did indeed bring a 3G iPod Touch to market, that could potentially cannibalize their iPhone market which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That doesn’t mean Apple wouldn’t do it though. We will state we feel this rumor has a 20% change of actually happening in September.

Let’s face it, the iPod is reaching the end of its long and legendary road. What we used to need an iPod for, we now have smartphones that are more capable. Apple brought apps to the iPod touch, but if you wander out of your WiFi network, you are back to the iPod being a unconnected device. In reality, anyone older than 18 who can afford their own cell phone bill is probably not going to want an iPod these days. So, how can Apple make the device that turned its fortunes around relevant again today? It would have to make its 3G iPod Touch a connected device.

A 3G iPod Touch could make sense for NFC
A 3G iPod Touch could be valuable to younger users as it would allow them to stream their music on the go with the iCloud service and Pandora. It would allow more savvy users to place calls over Skype or a whole host of other VOIP based services. To those who argue that Apple would never make such a device because of the wireless carriers, they did it with the iPad didn’t they? We have another theory that would allow for something else too…

read more

NFC phone $50, bargain for Google Nexus S 4G

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

NFC phone $50, bargain for Google Nexus S 4G

Google Nexus S 4G is now only $49.99 at both Amazon and WireFly. We don’t often advertise where to get products, but from time to time a bargain comes around we think you will want to know about, and today is one of those days. If you have been wanting an NFC capable phone and you live in the US, you will have known that Sprint has the Google Nexus S 4G. The pure Google experience smartphone is still one of the most capable phones available and is the only phone at this time that is NFC-enabled. In fact, it was only Thursday that we reported that the secure element was being enabled on the Google Nexus S 4G in an update that improved the overall handling of the phone. The Google Nexus S 4G will also be among the first phones to rock the new Android OS Ice Cream Sandwich.
Google Wallet NFC Capable phone under $50 rocking on WiMax it can only be the Google Nexus S 4G

At this time, the two big features that people are looking for in their smartphones are NFC and the ability to slipstream along on a 4G network. Sprint has WiMax at this time and it is pretty fast with peak download speeds of more than 10 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1 Mbps; and real world average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps. The Google Nexus S 4G has NFC and Sprint has partnered with Google for the Google Wallet. You can order your Google Nexus S 4G today and take on no real risk and be able to upgrade when you want. See below for details on that.

Source: Google Nexus S 4G

read more

Samsung Hercules NFC superphone coming this fall

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Samsung Hercules NFC superphone coming this fall

The Samsung Hercules NFC superphone could hit T-Mobile with Ice Cream Sandwich at around the same time as the Google Nexus Prime, which is also emanating from the house of Samsung. We reported that a gaggle of NFC superphones were slated for this fall, and the Samsung Hercules is likely to make good on that promise and take the demigod award as it does it. The as yet unconfirmed NFC superphone has specifications that will make the Galaxy S II weep with envy – well, it would if it had bothered to show up to the party here in the U.S. – and has reputedly been fashioned by the gods and bathed in ambrosia before being packaged.

Samsung Hercules rumored specs are worthy of NFC superphone status

Ok, well we can pay a rumored phone compliments all day but the crux of the matter is what does this NFC superphone have under the hood to deserve such admiration? Reports differ on the processor speed – some say the Samsung Hercules rocks a dual core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 thinker, while more recent rumors suggest that the gods have passed on a little more speed and that the phone will slipstream with a dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon speedster. The uncertainty with the processor that the Samsung Hercules will use is exactly the same rumor that we can’t get a clear picture on with the Google Nexus Prime. These two NFC superphones share a lot of the same specifications and we wouldn’t be surprised if they are not variations of the same phone in different skins with differing radios for different carriers here in the U.S. That would make it pretty different, actually.

read more

Zoosh wants to be more than just payments, Zoosh wants to be a verb

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Zoosh wants to be more than just payments, Zoosh wants to be a verb

We thought we had Zoosh pegged in our last post about Naratte. Turns out, although accurate, our last post didn’t even hit the tip of the iceberg of the capabilities Zoosh has. We interviewed both Bret Paulson and Byron Alsberg and came away with our heads spinning with potential ideas and a few more facts that weren’t in the public domain before. Ready to learn more about Naratte and Zoosh? Good let’s get on with it…

Everything you need to know about Zoosh transactions

If you read the press release from Naratte this last week you may have been impressed or you may have been confused, but one thing we know for sure is there were questions unanswered. That’s mainly because press releases are not really the realm of a lot of technical data and they certainly don’t try to break down data enough for us everyday folk to consume and comprehend. Let’s start with the big issue that any technology that deals with financial transactions has to get past – security. Strange as it seems, technically being safe is not enough for a new technology to be accepted; it has to be viewed as safe in the hearts and minds of the consumer to work and gain acceptance. This is a challenge Zoosh, like NFC, faces.

We had a niggling concern when we wrote our last post about how secure Naratte’s Zoosh is, but not anymore

The first point we need to convey is that your data is not stored on the phone. We repeat your data is not stored on the phone when you use any Zoosh app, on any platform. Byron Alsberg, the company’s CTO, educated us on Naratte’s approach and it makes a lot of sense. The security is token based, which means you are given a cryptographic token (a code) by your credit card company that represents your account on your phone linked with your pin number. If anything changes within that configuration, a flag as big as a stars and stripes on a used car lot goes up immediately. This token is useless to anyone who isn’t you, as to change the configuration requires personal knowledge you setup with your card provider. If you want to learn more about token based security, check out Wikipedia’s page on the subject.

read more

Will Apple include NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3?

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Will Apple include NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3?

A couple of days ago we speculated that Apple may be including NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. The lack of credible, reliable rumors and evidence to support our leap of faith has bothered us ever since. For around a year now pundits have been speculating about whether Apple will be including NFC in the iPhone 5 and more recently in the iPad 3. For the second half of last year the press thought it was a certainty that Apple was launching an NFC iPhone 5, but early this year reports started circulating that Apple would not be supporting NFC until the iPhone 6. We wanted to look at all the rumors that have circulated regarding Apple’s plans for NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 to see whether any clues that would allow us to get a clearer picture of whether or not an NFC iPhone 5 or NFC iPad 3 is on the cards.

Rumors that have suggested there will be no NFC in the iPhone 5 or iPad 3

Most Apple NFC iPhone 5 and NFC iPad 3 neigh sayers, have reported between March and May this year. The information has either come third party through Apple or large scale manufacturing suppliers. If this is misinformation, it has worked. Many industry people now think there will be no NFC iPhone 5 until next year. The NFC iPad 3 rumors are too new, but it is presumable that if the iPhone 5 doesn’t get NFC nor would the iPad 3 if indeed it is due to be released at the same time. We have tracked the main reports that suggest that the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 will not have NFC and they appear to emanate from just three sources.

Berstein Analysts: “Apple’s next iPhone, said to be called the 4S, will not have the mobile payment support through NFC (near field communication).” – May 16th, 2011

read more

Augme AD LIFE™ v4.0 NFC capable Mobile Marketing platform

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Augme AD LIFE™ v4.0 NFC capable Mobile Marketing platform

Today, Augme launched the next iteration of its NFC capable Mobile Marketing platform AD LIFE v4.0. The new NFC capable Mobile Marketing platform has “The recipe for mobile marketing success extends well beyond strategy and creative applications,” stated Anthony Iacovone, Chief Innovative Officer of Augme Technologies, Inc.

NFC capable Mobile Marketing platform measures the effectiveness of marketing

When you are a marketer, you live, breathe and die metrics. How can I measure the effectiveness of this campaign? How can I see how much this creative content was shared? How can I work out the return on investment for my client? The list goes on. Sales are black and white – you either sold this many widgets or you didn’t. Marketing, on the other hand, is far more subjective and dependent on the needs of a campaign. Some campaign goals are for branding, collecting followers or education. But at the end of the day, most end up needing to positively impact sales. Different campaigns require different metrics, and revenue very often is not representative of measuring a campaign’s success. In an increasingly technological world, judging your effectiveness, conversion rates and the sales your marketing is directly or indirectly accountable for is getting harder.

read more

Apple iPad 3 will have LTE radios, iPhone 5 could be the same

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Apple iPad 3 will have LTE radios, iPhone 5 could be the same

Rumors with bona fide AT&T documentation to boot are fruitfully abundant when it comes to the Apple iPad 3 and Apple iPhone 5, and the inclusion of LTE radios in both of the aforementioned devices today. Lulzec has finished its fifty day string of high profile hackings, and wanted to go out with a bang by releasing some AT&T internal documents. We are thinking that the members of Lulzec missed their calling in life, and that we wish they were our contact for NFC tips. Unfortunately, there was no news on NFC in either product which makes us pull pouty faces, but moving on…

Apple iPad 3 LTE tests

This document was released by Lulzec and clearly describes AT&T’s roll out plans for LTE. In the bottom right two panels we can see references to an iPad 3 being tested on the LTE network. The guys over at iFans dug into the document further and discovered the references to the LTE iPad. This suggests that Apple is adding LTE data radios to its next iPad. The document suggests that AT&T will be or has already been testing “iPad new activations HLS using the new rate plan.” Persistent rumors of a new iPad 3 being launched before Christmas have now been quashed, because if AT&T are still testing in November and December this suggests the LTE iPad 3 will more than likely be unveiled on Apple’s normal yearly schedule.

read more

Isis joint venture names Austin as its second mobile commerce pilot city

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

Isis joint venture names Austin as its second mobile commerce pilot city

The Isis joint venture has named Austin, Texas as the second city that will pilot its mobile commerce mobile wallet. The Isis joint venture selected Salt Lake City, Utah as its first pilot city to try out its mobile commerce platform. The Isis joint venture is comprised of three of the main mobile network operators in the United States. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have pulled resources to create a service that is expected to compete with other mobile wallets, including the Google Wallet product.

Could the Isis joint venture chose embedded secure elements over SIM based solutions for its mobile commerce platform?
Isis joint venture gives clues about its choice of technology in its Austin mobile commerce press release

read more

DeviceFidelity Scoops another important mobile wallet patent

Posted by Seth Planck

0comments

DeviceFidelity Scoops another important mobile wallet patent

DeviceFidelity has announced that it has been awarded a mobile wallet patent for NFC technology. The new mobile wallet patent that has been granted to DeviceFidelity has strategically placed the company in a very strong position in the emerging market of NFC mobile wallets and payments, and in turn DeviceFidelity is becoming a bigger name in the NFC world everyday. Their patent war chest is also becoming the envy of many larger competitors in the NFC space, and there could be companies that now find themselves on the wrong side of the newly awarded mobile wallet patent.

About the DeviceFidelity mobile wallet patent

Granted on the 17th of May, this new mobile wallet patent describes the use of a “multi institution mobile wallet architecture” ala Google Wallet, protected by a “Secure Element” capable of running applications such as a smart card. Google appears to be in the clear with its own mobile wallet, as this patent applies to the use of a microSD card which the Google Wallet technology does not require to function but instead relies on an in-built secure element. That is not to say that any Android smartphone manufacturer that did want to build its own mobile wallet and have the secure element to reside in a microSD card wouldn’t have to license the technology from DeviceFidelity.

read more