Verizon holds up Samsung Nexus Prime because of Google Wallet

Posted by Seth Planck

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Verizon holds up Samsung Nexus Prime because of Google Wallet

Last week Google and Samsung jointly announced that they were canceling their “unpacked event” that was set to unveil the NFC-capable Samsung Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich. Rumors swirled around that the reason was a patent dispute, but our sources close to the matter are telling us a different story, which to us makes a lot more sense. As you will have gathered from the title, the issue is in fact with Verizon. Can you guess what it is?

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Canadians not enthused by the thought of using Google Wallet or NFC payments

Posted by Seth Planck

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Canadians not enthused by the thought of using Google Wallet or NFC payments It turns out Canadians are still not convinced about using Google Wallet or NFC payments in general. In a poll conducted on behalf of ITBusiness.ca Canadians generally elicited a lukewarm response to using Google Wallet or other NFC payments services and showed a distinct interest in [...]

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NFC stocks: Is it no NFC in the iPhone 4S hitting Apples stock price?

Posted by Seth Planck

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Is no NFC and no LTE in the iPhone 4S hitting Apple’s stock price? Or was Apple’s stock artificially inflated by NFC stocks?

Apple stocks took a tumble today which may have partially been because the iPhone 4S is without NFC

A lot of people were disappointed with the iPhone 4S, and we can speculate that just from what we have seen happening out on the social networks. We can also speculate that people who are interested in NFC stocks may have quietly been buying Apple stock over the last few weeks and then dumped it on the news that Apple has not included NFC in the iPhone 4S. As far as investors were concerned, it was Tim Cook’s debut today and for the new CEO to inspire confidence in investors, he needed to show that the company could deliver a forward thinking product that probably incorporated NFC and LTE. However, Cook spent far less time on stage than Steve Jobs would have and Apple delivered a somewhat lack luster device after a three month lag in their standard release schedule.

NFC stocks are a hot topic for investors at the moment and if Apple has announced that the iPhone 4S would feature NFC it would have been natural to think that Apple would have pressed that advantage and would have delivered an NFC mobile wallet that would have added the massive NFC payment recurring revenue to Apple’s bottom line.

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Canadian BMO Bank announces PayPass NFC stickers for phones

Posted by Seth Planck

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Canadian BMO Bank announces PayPass NFC stickers for phones

It’s a tough job being Canada’s number one credit card issuing bank, but BMO Bank of Montreal does it with a smile. It’s probably smiling because it has recently announced that it will be providing customers with NFC stickers that allow for PayPass NFC payments.

Meanwhile, here in the States, people crowd around to look at an EMV card in wonder and NFC payments are practically legendary with only the few that report that they have seen such a transaction, let alone conducted one. The Canadian bank cares about their customers backs and have collaborated with MasterCard to negate the need for loose change that could potentially result in a trip to the chiropractor. Oh, how in an NFC world it doesn’t suck to be Canadian. Well, not in healthcare, crime and quality of life either… but what’s most important is the NFC. But let’s stop lamenting and get to BMO’s NFC announcement.

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NFC payments hotting up in Canada as Rogers wants to start a Bank

Posted by Seth Planck

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Rogers Communications wants to start a bank which could take NFC payments mainstream in Canada

The owner of Canada’s largest wireless telephone service provider has told the federal finance department that it will apply to become a financial institution called Rogers Bank, to be headquartered in Toronto.

“Would you like that deposited in your account or paid off your mobile bill?” could be a perfectly normal question for a Rogers customer to be asked if the communications company gets its way and is able to start  Rogers Bank. We reported a couple of weeks ago that Rogers is looking to deploy NFC payments on its network and could be collaborating with TD to do so. Since then we have seen that Rogers will get the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II on its network this fall, and now the company has come forward to confirm some of the banking rumors which have been rife.

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Canadian NFC Samsung Galaxy S II LTE heading to Rogers this fall

Posted by Seth Planck

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NFC Samsung Galaxy S II rocking LTE heading to Rogers Canada this fall

Oh Canada, Oh Canada you get a Rogers NFC Samsung Galaxy S II (we don’t think that rhymes but you get the point). Okay, well the Americans didn’t fare well with today’s Samsung announcements. Our hearts sank as we learned that Samsung was dealing out no NFC on any US network for the long awaited Samsung Galaxy S II variants. That said, until the machines have a tear down we won’t know that for sure since Samsung is rumored to be fitting NFC in an inactive state and then switching it on later when carriers ask them to. Will America get an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II? The chances are looking bleak today. Back to Canada and the Rogers NFC Samsung Galaxy S II though.

Samsung has finally started releasing the by now legendary and possibly aging NFC Samsung Galaxy S II to North America. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint had their announcements earlier and Canada’s Rogers appears to have trumped them all by getting the NFC Samsung’s Galaxy S II version for their network which is in line with the news lately that suggests Rogers is deploying NFC payments. Canadians won’t get their hands on their version of the Samsung Galaxy S II until later in the fall, but we can at least know what’s on its way now.

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What does NFC mean to the unbanked and the remittance economy?

Posted by Thomas Gamboa

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The World of the Unbanked, Underbanked, and the Remittance Economy

If you think that the world of the unbanked, underbanked, and remittance transactions are a fringe segment of the world’s economy, then you might want to pay attention. A grand total of 2.5 billion people in the world do not have a bank account of any kind, or as they are formally referred to in studies – the unbanked. That’s 36% of the adult global population who do not rely on formal financial banking institutions to hold and distribute their money. This is an eye opening figure, and being the speculators that we are, we have to consider what NFC can mean to the unbanked and also what the unbanked can mean to NFC.

A Closer Look at What it Means to be Unbanked

The unbanked population is not surprisingly saturated in the regions of developing countries, where the banking infrastructure may not be as pervasive and where the cultural influence may not encourage storing your money in the hands of a business, but the unbanked are everywhere. AFI Global reports the following unbanked numbers, some of the highest in the world:

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Bell Canada to launch Blackberry Bold 9900 NFC phone in late August

Posted by Seth Planck

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Bell Canada to launch Blackberry Bold 9900 NFC phone in late August

Bell Canada is getting ready to launch the NFC Blackberry Bold 9900 flagship phone at the end of August, according to a leaked ad. Just a few days after learning that the Blackberry Bold 9900 would launch in the UK on September 15th, thanks to Amazon UK, we find out RIM will be bringing the 9900 series NFC goodness to its homeland first thanks to Bell. Ad below, click to enlarge.

Bell Canada, Blackberry Bold 9900 NFC phone and more within the next couple of months

Bell Canada may be getting the Blackberry Bold 9900 NFC phone, but it’s not the only desirable phone the network will be carrying. Let’s face it – Bell Canada hasn’t always been known for its bleeding edge selection of phones, but that could change over the next few months. The Blackberry Bold 9900 will be joined by some of its brethren in the form of the BB Curve 9360(September), the Torch 9860 (late August) and the Torch 9810 (late August). The network has also just launched the HTC Sensation, and as we reported this last week, July 14th is the date that the Samsung Galaxy S II superphone will be released.

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PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey finds 34% of Canadians would rather pay by phone

Posted by Seth Planck

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PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey finds 34% of Canadians polled would rather pay by phone

A PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey found 34% of Canadians polled would rather pay by phone than carry actual cash. PayPal Canada contracted Leger Marketing to conduct a survey of 1,512, well, Canadians to see how they felt about mobile wallets. The fact that this poll found 34% of Canadians surveyed would rather pay by phone than carry a pocket full of coins shows a dramatic change. Compared with other surveys in the UK and US, the PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey shows a huge up swing in the percentage of a population who are ready to embrace mobile payments and dump the paper and metal.

The PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey also found that more than half of Canadians are comfortable with the thought of never handling cash again

Cash has been with us for hundreds of years. It is supposed to represent a chunk of gold buried in a national reserve vault, but those days are long past. When we worry about security of our cell phones acting as our mobile wallet, the irony is that cash is the most insecure form of payment EVER! If it is stolen a thief can use it anywhere, at any time. You cannot cancel cash, you cannot close the cash account, cash is not secure. However cash does have one redeeming quality and that is that it is only worth what is printed on it. If someone does steal $20, they can only spend $20 and not wipe you out, but most digital wallets require a pin to be inserted when purchases get over a certain amount or when the mobile wallet has been used a particular amount of times anyway, so even cash’s ace in the whole has been built into a mobile wallet. The PayPal Canada mobile wallet survey found that nearly six out of ten or 56% of Canadians seems to be comfortable with this idea.

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Samsung Galaxy S II launch imminent in Canada on Bell, SaskTel & Virgin Mobile

Posted by Seth Planck

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Samsung Galaxy S II launch imminent in Canada on Bell, SaskTel & Virgin Mobile

Yes, you saw it correctly, the Samsung Galaxy S II superphone has release dates in Canada and they aren’t far off, which leads us to wonder. Don’t you love those days when you walk outside, smell the clean air and revel in the fact that the crime rate is minuscule, or that healthcare is free and good? Or, perhaps do you prefer the days when the Samsung Galaxy S II is going to be launched imminently and you know the Yanks won’t even get a look in? You know, the days when you know it’s good to be Canadian. We wish we could feel that, but we are in the States and can only look north green with envy, barricade ourselves in our homes with guns protecting our $700 bottle of pills. Only the bloody British can laugh at us all.

Samsung Galaxy S II Launching for as little as $79.99 in Canada

Canada may be America’s hat, but that appears to be only because that is where the brains are. We want to know how the Canadians have wrangled this year’s most anticipated phone before America even has credible rumors of a release and then have managed to get it for $80. Yup, SaskTel will let you walk away with a Samsung Galaxy S II for $79.99 and won’t even call the police. Well, as long you sign a 3 year contract that is. No official launch date as yet, just that the phone will be available in the coming weeks.

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