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KPMG finds 23 percent of Americans very willing to use their mobile phones as an NFC wallet
Posted by Seth Planck
January 03rd, 2012 at 1:57 PM Filed Under Latest News
KPMG study finds that 23 percent of Americans very willing to use their smartphones as an NFC mobile wallet
KPMG has released its findings from a new survey it has conducted which found that 23% of Americans are “very willing” to use their NFC smartphones as mobile wallets. That is a quantum shift from where we were last May, but there are still concerns and obstacles to overcome before ubiquity happens. In fact, ubiquity isn’t really expected to happen until 2014, 2015 and onwards. Welcome to the year of NFC adoption.
Last year was the year of NFC discovery and early adopters, and 2012 is getting set up as the year of adoption and devices. Let’s not kid ourselves – 2012 is going to be a rocky path for NFC as it starts to gain traction and becomes a household name; but we will start to see more and more NFC devices hit the market, carriers start to embrace the technology and services to match. By this time next year, millions of consumers will have NFC smartphones and be using them as mobile wallets to varying degrees.
Etick brings the NFC mobile wallet to Iranian consumers with Irancell
Posted by Seth Planck
December 22nd, 2011 at 1:14 PM Filed Under Latest News
Etick brings the NFC mobile wallet to Iranian consumers with Irancell
NFC mobile wallet projects are taking off all over the Middle East, and Etick and Irancell are bringing some NFC goodness to Iranian consumers. Just in case you needed any more evidence that NFC mobile payments are gearing up to explode globally this next year, today we want to let you know about a project taking off in Iran. One of the great things about NFC is that it is crossing geographical, economic and cultural barriers. There are projects the world over that use that same NFC you want in your smartphone, and although NFC payments and NFC mobile wallets are a small part of the NFC puzzle, it appears to be the side of the tech that is capturing businesses’ and consumers’ imagination at the moment. The cry we are hearing at the moment is that NFC isn’t just about payments, however, we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize the power and place NFC mobile wallets have in this nascent industry.
Who wants a half price Verizon Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone?
Posted by Seth Planck
December 15th, 2011 at 4:22 PM Filed Under Latest News, NFC Deals
Within the space of a few hours the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon has lost half of its purchase price
We knew the Samsung Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone wouldn’t last at the premium price of $299 for very long, but even we didn’t think its price would be cut in half within a few hours of launch on Verizon. It has though, and Amazon are currently retailing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone for a very tempting $149.99. That gets you the Android Ice Cream Sandwich touting, Face Unlock biometric boasting, Android Beam slinging pure Google experience phone.
Seven barriers to the growth of NFC mobile payments?
Posted by Seth Planck
December 15th, 2011 at 4:10 PM Filed Under Latest News
Seven barriers to the growth of NFC mobile payments?
BillingViews today published a report / presentation called “The Seven Barriers to Mobile Payment Adoption” that primarily focuses on NFC payments and adds a dash of QR codes for good measure. BillingViews describes itself as “the global home for billing expertise and intelligence in the communications and media industries.” We can’t say we are feeling the report and disagree with it on a few levels. We do agree that there are barriers, we are just a little at odds with some of BilliingViews’ seven reasons.
The fall and rise of ViVOtech, their NFC ecosystem and your pink slip
Posted by Seth Planck
December 09th, 2011 at 1:01 PM Filed Under Latest News
If ViVOtech is not on your short list for NFC POS terminals, wallets and other services you should be fired!
ViVOtech – they’re the firm that sells NFC POS terminals, right? Wrong. Gone are the days where ViVOtech can be categorized as just a payments hardware firm who have niched themselves in NFC. These days ViVOtech are an NFC ecosystem unto themselves. After parting ways with Verifone, ViVOtech found themselves between a rock and a hard place. From what we hear had that old problem of more cash going out than was coming in. No different to most of America at this point then!
UK NFC joint venture cannot be allowed to continue
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
November 17th, 2011 at 4:25 PM Filed Under Latest News
UK NFC joint venture cannot be allowed to continue
If you dress a pig up as a lamb, it’s still a pig and that appears to be becoming increasingly clearer in the debacle that has become known as the UK NFC joint venture. It doesn’t matter if the UK NFC joint venture says its existence is based on fueling mass adoption of NFC mobile wallet usage when it is clearly showing that its intentions are anti-competitive and not in consumers’ interests. NFC Rumors hasn’t been a fan of the UK NFC joint venture since it was announced back in early June.
Samsung rumored to be developing new NFC products, NFC payments?
Posted by Seth Planck
October 28th, 2011 at 4:18 PM Filed Under Latest News, Rumor
Samsung rumored to be building new NFC products, NFC payments?
Samsung is building its own NFC chips and is developing new products, NFC Rumors has learned. It seems like we head off for a few days and the NFC environment goes crazy. We came back to an inbox full of news and, of course, rumors from some of our best sources. We all know that Samsung is slinging NFC into most phones they release from here on out. It is a great win for NFC and a greater win for the consumer that one of the most powerful phone manufacturers is enabling its devices on mass for the consumer. However, what you may not have known, and what we didn’t know until recently, is that Samsung isn’t stopping its NFC tirade there. They are said to be implementing NFC in products that are not phones. From what we have been told, it sounds like NFC payments. Let us tell you why.
Samsung NFC devices and services that use card emulation like NFC payments
Our sources take a risk by sharing information with NFC Rumors and we always appreciate it. However, sometimes because of the nature of the information they have to share they have to hold some back. This is the case with this NFC rumor. Too much information exposes them and often their jobs can be at stake when sharing what they share, so we can give our readers a heads up on what’s coming. We, of course, asked what this new mystery NFC service was and hit somewhat of a brick wall. However, both of our sources confirmed that the new products and services that Samsung are working on revolve around card emulation. Off the top of our heads, that makes these likely candidates – NFC payments, transportation or access control.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus NFC phone announced for Verizon in US
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
October 19th, 2011 at 1:22 AM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Press Release, Videos
Samsung Galaxy Nexus NFC phone announced for Verizon in US
It’s official, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been announced and it’s an NFC phone of the hero flavor. There have been months of speculation, including false rumors and poets hinting at what the NFC Samsung Galaxy Nexus may hold in store for consumers. Now we know, and the waiting is nearly over before you have the next pure Google experience phone in your pocket. We do have to say though, that the webcast sucked. Obviously here at NFC Rumors, Near Field Communication is a key element we are interested in and tonight we learned that the mighty NFC is on board as you probably expected from Google. Not only that, but NFC is the core component of Android Beam in the Galaxy Nexus.
IEMR says mobile payments will hit $945 billion in 2015
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
October 17th, 2011 at 12:53 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
IEMR Global Mobile Payment Market Forecast 2009 – 2015 projects that mobile payments will hit $945 billion in 2015
By the time we reach 2015, IEMR expects that there will be 893 million mobile payments users that will generate a staggering $945 Billion in transactions. Those mobile transactions will use NFC, SMS, WAP, and USSD according to the research firm. IEMR expects these transactions to be used to make purchases for merchandise, digital products, ticketing, mobile money transfers, bill payments, and prepaid top-ups.
We are seeing evidence of programs being brought to market for all of those transaction types. For the world to get to nearly $1 trillion in transactions, there will need to be mass adoption and industry stakeholders will have to stop battling for control. The report is based on IEMR’s Global Consumer Telecommunications Survey which covers 50,000 mobile users in 50 markets globally, which is one of the biggest polls we have heard of here at NFC Rumors.
Cubic gets approval for Tri-Reader 3 transportation NFC readers
Posted by Seth Planck
October 17th, 2011 at 9:34 AM Filed Under Latest News
Cubic gets approval for Tri-Reader 3 transportation NFC readers
Cubic Transportation Systems has received the approval it needs to bring NFC and EMV based contactless transportation payments to the US, UK and Australia. That approval has come from the top four bank card brands for the Tri-Reader 3 to process their branded contactless EMV bank cards for use in public transit revenue management systems.
“Our customers now have an open payment solution, which means that our technology supports any contactless media that conforms to ISO 14443, whether in an account, card or NFC phone based system,” said Pradip Mistry, Vice President of Engineering for Cubic Transportation Systems. “At the same time, we have also ensured that the same levels of speed and reliability we have built into previous generations of card-based fare collection systems are achieved for open payment.”
Smart Card Alliance and NFC Forum announces NFC Solutions Summit 2012
Posted by Seth Planck
October 14th, 2011 at 3:15 PM Filed Under Events, Latest News
Smart Card Alliance and NFC Forum announces NFC Solutions Summit 2012
The Smart Card Alliance and the NFC Forum have got together to put on the NFC Solutions Summit that will be happening in May of next year. It is currently the middle of the NFC conference season with plenty of great shows coming up in the next month or two. Looking ahead, the NFC ecosystem is likely to change in the next 8-9 months with more NFC phones, more NFC mobile wallets and more NFC marketing taking place everywhere. So who better to put on an NFC Solutions Summit than the Smart Card Alliance and the NFC Forum?
If you are an NFC geek like we are, this is probably one of those summits you won’t want to miss. The Smart Card Alliance said, “The Smart Card Alliance/ NFC Forum Summit will cover the state of the technology, developments in new NFC devices and add-ons, the status of the growing NFC ecosystem, the promise of NFC-enabled payments and other popular applications, NFC implementation, and North American and international experiences with NFC pilots and implementations.”
Citi attacks Isis gatekeeper business model
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
October 13th, 2011 at 11:19 AM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
Citi attacks Isis gatekeeper business model Citi has strongly criticized the Isis joint venture at a packed BAI Delivery session on mobile payments. Isis hasn’t even launched yet and if you visit NFC Rumors often you will probably already know we are not enthralled at the prospect of an artificially created marketplace where Isis founders Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile control the [...]
Visa Europe to launch Visa Wallet for NFC payments in August 2012
Posted by Seth Planck
October 11th, 2011 at 5:23 PM Filed Under Events, Latest News, Videos
Visa Europe to launch Visa Wallet for NFC payments in August 2012
Visa announced that its NFC payments Visa Wallet would be coming this fall in the United States, but it now appears that Visa Europe won’t roll out its version until either August or September 2012. Steve Perry, Commercial Director for Visa Europe, confirmed the deployment of Europe’s Visa Wallet at the European security summit in Frankfurt. Details are thin on the ground at the moment about Visa’s European Visa Wallet, but Perry did share some interesting tidbits that shed light on how Visa intends to take a different approach than what might have been expected of the company when it comes to NFC payments and its Visa Wallet offering that we may well see built into the American version.
MasterCard hits Twitter to answer your questions on NFC payments
Posted by Seth Planck
October 10th, 2011 at 5:39 PM Filed Under NFC Briefs
MasterCard hits Twitter to answer your questions on NFC payments MasterCard is hosting an NFC payments Q & A session on Twitter next week. We try to answer your NFC questions on NFC Rumors on a daily basis. But sometimes if you have the opportunity, it’s best to go straight to the source, and next [...]
JCM Global and Techfirm gambles on NFC with Mobile Wager Wallet
Posted by Seth Planck
October 04th, 2011 at 11:22 AM Filed Under Latest News
JCM Global and Techfirm gambles on NFC with Mobile Wager Wallet
JCM Global and Techfirm are betting that gamblers will love what they have to demonstrate in NFC this year at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. We thought we had thought of every possible use for NFC and simply sit here day after day waiting for innovative companies to turn these theoretical use cases into real life products. However, today we see a concept we hadn’t even considered that takes the form of an NFC Mobile Wager Wallet, or what JCM Global and Techfirm like to call MW2. That is what makes NFC so interesting, the innovation that is occurring across the ecosystem is amazing as companies and individuals come up with new uses for NFC. The tech duo will be demonstrating their proof of concept, NFC Mobile Wager Wallet to casino gaming industry professionals starting today.
“We are very excited to demonstrate the progress our teams have made in developing more convenient and more secure ways for players to enhance their gaming experience. We have a long history of innovation, and we believe our casino customers will benefit from offering this type of technology to their players,” said JCM Global President Aki Isoi.
NFC Payments to be worth $100 billion in 2016 says ABI Research
Posted by Seth Planck
October 03rd, 2011 at 1:50 PM Filed Under Latest News
NFC Payments to be worth $100 billion in 2016 says ABI Research, MNOs could lose out if they don’t partner
ABI research has released its latest “NFC Mobile Payments” report that suggests mobile network operators may lose their part in the $100 billion opportunity that NFC payments will represent by 2016. What we like about this report in particular is that ABI Research recognizes that analysis from other analyst companies resign NFC payments to a hype-driven phenomenon. The research firm holds form and still predicts that NFC payments will soon become not only a reality, but also a mass market-adopted behavior in the United States and Western Europe in 2016.
“Despite the lack of definitive announcements to date, MNOs and OEMs will flood some markets with NFC payment-ready smartphones in 2012 and 2013. That, along with momentum from Google Wallet and several other MNO-led initiatives, like Cityzi in France, ISIS in the US, and the yet unnamed MNO JV in the UK, builds the installed base of NFC mobile payment users to more than 16% of mobile subscribers in the U.S. and Western Europe by late 2014,” says Mark Beccue, Senior Analyst of Mobile Money.
NFC news roundup
Posted by Seth Planck
September 25th, 2011 at 10:15 PM Filed Under Latest News
NFC news roundup
Its been a busy couple of weeks in NFC and odds are you have probably missed some of the good bits if you don’t hang out on NFC Rumors all day everyday. So we thought we’d catalogue some of the more interesting stories that have crept up in the last two weeks and organize a little.
Marketing
NFC marketing used to be a small category of news, but it is building. We expect that in the future it will rival NFC phones in the amount of stories that are generated by NFC marketing because it is such a diverse subject.
- First NFC digital billboard to launch in Times Square
- Kimtag research finds social networking and marketing NFC tags scans get a 22% per month bump
- Poken and Standard Register Healthcare announce NFC products and services platform pokenHEALTH
- Tapit closes exclusivity deal with JCDecaux in Australia for NFC marketing on its “outside street furniture” or what we like to call NFC billboards
- Tapit forms Australian NFC agency out of home advertising network with JCDecaux
- NFC social check-ins come of age with RewardAble marketing platform
Does Google want to become an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator)?
RumorPosted by Seth Planck
September 23rd, 2011 at 12:53 PM Filed Under Latest News, Rumor
Does Google want to become a MVNO (mobile virtual network operator)?
It appears that Google is testing its own SIM cards in Spain. This points to the possibility that Google could be getting into the MNVO business. The Spanish website El Otrolado has outed some photographs of Google SIMs, which could mean El Goog is going to become an MVNO. A mobile virtual network operator is a service that runs over another carrier’s network but is branded and managed by somebody like Google. A perfect example of an MVNO would be Virgin Mobile, which is available in many countries around the world and never runs its own network and instead piggybacks on local operators airwaves.
This is a curious move for the company that recently worried Android handset partners with the acquisition of Motorola’s mobility business that would create an enclosed ecosystem. Google would effectively have control of everything from the operating system (Android), to the smartphones (Motorola) all the way through the network and then let’s not forget NFC payments with Google Wallet. The photographs you will see below illustrate that Google is doing something with SIM cards that are reputedly being shipped to Google Spain employees.
MasterCard talks up security in NFC payments
Posted by Seth Planck
September 23rd, 2011 at 10:46 AM Filed Under Latest News
MasterCard talks up security in NFC payments
MasterCard has been talking about the security involved in NFC mobile wallets, initially with the Google Wallet and then on the grander scale of the PayPass system itself. Poll after poll has shown that consumers are worried about security when it comes to NFC payments, whether that comes in the form of an NFC mobile wallet or an EMV card. Consumers are right to be concerned about the security of a nascent payment method and they are right to seek education on safety systems that are applied to any payment forms. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing.
We have discussed before on NFC Rumors that NFC payments are probably more secure than any form of currency or payment that has come before. Does that mean NFC payments are infallible? No, but the point of security is to make it sufficiently difficult that no one would bother attempting to steal a few bucks from an account. Does it mean that consumers should be more protective of their NFC phones if they have them set up for payments? Absolutely, just as you wouldn’t leave cash laying out around strangers, the same would apply to you phone if it is the way in which you pay for goods and services. That is true if you use your phone for mobile banking also.
The fact is security with NFC payments doesn’t just fall to the card issuer or the NFC mobile wallet provider. We the consumers also have our responsibility to ensure security is kept tight. But let’s assume that you are security minded about your NFC phone and payment device. What is MasterCard doing to keep you secure, your transactions and your accounts secure on their end of things?
America’s Isis crisis in NFC mobile payments
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:22 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
America’s Isis crisis in NFC mobile payments
Since Google launched its Google Wallet earlier this week the Isis crew have been out in full force talking about Isis, which probably won’t get to market until in Salt Lake City and Austin until early-mid 2012, and that is just in a couple of test cities at that. If you have never heard of Isis let us give you some back story. Isis is a joint venture formed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon where the three mobile network operators have come together to go into the NFC mobile payments business together, effectively controlling most of the market in the United States. Each mobile network operator intends to charge companies for having an NFC payments capable app stored on a subscriber’s phone and then Isis will act as a trusted service manager that provisions security apps being installed and acts as part of the payment process. If you would like to know more about what a trusted service manager is and does, check out our post here.
ViVOtech hires ex Verifone NFC pioneer for VP of Operations
Posted by Seth Planck
September 20th, 2011 at 10:04 AM Filed Under Latest News
ViVOtech hires ex-Verifone & Ingenico NFC pioneer for VP of Operations, as NFC talent acquisition is set to explode
ViVOtech today announced they have hired a new VP of Operations who is, in ViVOtech’s words, an “NFC Pioneer”. We wouldn’t disagree. Eric Lecesne is one of the few people on the planet who has the experience and management background that ViVOtech requires to capitalize on the new abundance of opportunities that NFC is offering the company. It was only a couple of months ago that ViVOtech went cap in hand to its strategic investors asking for more investment, promising that NFC would come of age. Since that time the NFC world has hardly been in flux. It has moved to mainstream, and instead of the conversation being about if NFC will happen, the voices you hear today are asking why it hasn’t happened already, or “what’s taking you guys so long?”
Visa, American Express and Discover Card sign on for Google Wallet
Posted by Seth Planck
September 19th, 2011 at 7:29 PM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release
Google lands Visa, American Express and Discover Card for Google Wallet
We knew Google Wallet was launching, but the big news today is that Google has reached deals with Visa, American Express and Discover Card who will be joining MasterCard on the Google Wallet platform. Ironically the Visa press release hit 15 minutes before the official Sprint release hit our inbox. Below we have the Visa payWave press release for your viewing pleasure, but in essence Google Wallet agreement extends Google Wallet to Visa account holders worldwide. What isn’t clear is whether this is the beginning of Google taking Google Wallet and Google Offers platform planet wide, or if it just means that Google Wallet customers can use payWave merchants who are equipped with contactless NFC POS terminals on a global basis.
The Google Wallet may soon be global thanks to Visa who wishes to push NFC payments
We have been waiting for the Google Wallet to launch since May. We have witnessed how Isis attracted Visa, American Express and Discover Card a few months ago. There also hasn’t been any new NFC phones that would support Google Wallet. However, on the back of today’s news, Google has come out in fighting form.
MasterCard talks up NFC and mobile payments
Posted by Seth Planck
September 17th, 2011 at 5:28 PM Filed Under Latest News, Videos
MasterCard talks up NFC and mobile payments
Earlier this week we heard how PayPal is giving NFC a miss, MasterCard wasn’t going to have the down playing of its favorite protocol go unanswered and released a short video to show just how relevant NFC is. So, what’s a monolithic giant in the payments space to do when a smaller upstart competitor suggests that by being progressive they are hurting consumers? They pull out the big guns, which in this instance came embodied in the form of Theodore Iacobuzio, who when not staring in MasterCard’s short videos, acts as their Vice President of Global Insights. However, we think his title should be Czar of the Future and that’s only because NFC Janitor was already taken, because from where we are sitting Visa and MasterCard look like they are going to clean-up.
Monsieur Iacobuzio speaks about what Mastercard sees as both the potential areas of mobile payments and NFC and to what they feel is of relevance as we head towards a cashless society. The unbanked also have a high priority to MasterCard and, in fact, Theodore Iacobuzio has written a paper on this subject - Will the Mobile Device Revolution Drive the Globalization of Payments? – which you can download.
Can PayPal rule the world without NFC?
Posted by Seth Planck
September 15th, 2011 at 11:16 PM Filed Under Latest News
Can PayPal rule the world without NFC? Can PayPal survive without NFC in the offline world?
Just yesterday we reported that PayPal is embracing an NFC mobile wallet over in Sweden. Yet today in the States, PayPal has been saying that it is not supporting NFC and it thinks its non-NFC strategy is correct. We beg to differ, and this shows a complete different mantra in the US than in Europe. AllThingsD reported on how PayPal intends to go into 2012 with an NFC-less strategy and they are confident enough about this decision to laugh at competitors who are entering the payment space and their models. We can’t help but think that PayPal is a little out of touch with what is happening and have made so many non-NFC acquisitions that they now find themselves justifying those purchases by not embracing NFC.
Whether PayPal likes it or not, Visa and MasterCard are bringing NFC to consumers and merchants alike. The process of an NFC payment is more frictionless than having to input your phone number and then a PIN number into a POS terminal. The point of swiping a physical card as PayPal has outlined in its go-to market strategy has little benefit in the user experience outside of security. Google Wallet also has a similar product it calls the GCard, but that is based within the phone and uses NFC for to make payments quick and easy.
Mobile payments to be worth $945 Billion in 2015
Posted by Seth Planck
September 09th, 2011 at 10:46 AM Filed Under Latest News
Mobile payments set to grow by a 30 fold factor from 2010 levels
IE Market Research have released their latest research and are projecting that global mobile transactions will be worth a total of $945 billion by 2015 which is a 30 fold jump over 2010 figures.
The Canadian research firm IE Market Research Corporation have released their third quarter Global Mobile Payment Forecast which projects that NFC mobile payments and transactions could top $945 billion by 2015. Over the months we have seen figures that run the gamut from just 100 billion to topping $1.2 trillion in NFC mobile payment transactions. However there appears to be somewhat of a settling of figures of late and IEMR’s latest study sits right in the center of educated guesses of the upcoming splurge on NFC and general mobile transactions.
“Our usage surveys reflect a trend of mobile payments growing commonplace in the Western world, corroborated by the fact North American and Western European markets are geared up for the beginning stages of a full-fledged adoption of the digital wallet.”
Twenty ten saw just $31.5 billion in mobile payments and transactions and that figure is set to soar up to or even beyond $945 billion by 2015. The research house states that this projection is based on its expectations that mobile payments and, we can assume a vast majority of that is NFC payments, will go main stream between 2012 and 2014. However, the report doesn’t see NFC having that big of an impact in mobile payments leading up to 2015.