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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!
NFC stocks: Is it no NFC in the iPhone 4S hitting Apples stock price?
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
October 04th, 2011 at 8:01 PM Filed Under Latest News
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.
Hoeft & Wessel offers NFC capability to its public transport ticketing
Posted by Seth Planck
October 02nd, 2011 at 6:56 PM Filed Under Latest News
Hoeft & Wessel revolutionizes e-Ticketing in public transport with NFC payments, Visa & MasterCard on the bus not under it
Hoeft & Wessel has announced that it is now offering NFC ticketing products to public transportation customers. Cast your mind back a little to when FirstGroup announced that they planned to deploy NFC in their buses throughout England and potentially the whole of the United Kingdom, the NFC POS supplier they intended to use was Hoeft & Wessel. The company says that long waiting times when buying tickets on buses and trains are now a thing of the past. Well, for those public transportation companies that use Hoeft & Wessel anyway. Hoeft & Wessel has announced that it will provide them with a new Almex NFC e-Ticketing system for convenient, contactless payment by credit card without prior registration.
Mobile & Finance Industries to Unite for the Future of NFC at NFC Payments USA
Posted by Thomas Gamboa
October 01st, 2011 at 2:20 AM Filed Under Events, Latest News
Banking and mobile industries meet to collaborate at NFC Payments USA Conference in November
NFC Payments USA will be hosting a conference in Miami on November 2-3, 2011. While NFC technology is expected to facilitate a long list of processes – access control, information exchange, loyalty, marketing and promotions – the payments and transactions space continues to be a strong force in the propulsion of NFC in the market. NFC Payments USA will bring together the worlds of mobile technology and banking to define the path towards a future of contactless payments.
Hot topics at NFC Payments USA and the rise of the mobile wallet
With a tightly packed schedule covering the 2-day event, NFC Payments USA is set to focus on a variety of topics to uncover and discuss the NFC case for merchants, MNOs, banks, and manufacturers.
Identive Group set to explode on the NFC scene
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
September 28th, 2011 at 9:15 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
Identive Group set to explode on the NFC scene: The Dave Holmes interview Part One
Today we got together with Dave Holmes of the Identive Group to talk NFC. Over the course of a few posts, we’ll let you in on how far the rabbit hole goes and the shear breadth of brain trust held within the firm. We will also look at how this in-depth knowledge translates into a pragmatic approach that the Identive Group is taking to the NFC world. In this new age of NFC ecosystems, services, products and innovation it is sometimes easy to forget that there are veterans of near field communications who walk among us mere mortals. One of those people that has practically been in NFC from day one is Identive Group’s VP, Dave Holmes.
The Identive Group is vast in the business models they service and products in which they are involved. However, much of the time the somewhat shy Identive Group likes to be that provider that works behind the scenes instead of front and center. That is set to change within the next couple of months, but more on that later. Known for their impact in the RFID and Secure ID world, over the last year or so they have turned on their collective NFC knowledge and started putting together an NFC business model that will last.
INSIDE Secure gets a new VP Applications and Ecosystems for more NFC goodness
Posted by Seth Planck
September 28th, 2011 at 12:15 PM Filed Under Latest News
INSIDE Secure gets a new VP Applications and Ecosystems for more NFC goodness
French firm INSIDE Secure today announced that they have taken on Laurent Sanchez as their VP of Applications and Ecosystems. We bet there isn’t a conference for holders of that title in or out of NFC. We try to keep up with the movements of people within NFC because by seeing the type of talent that a company brings on to their team can give clues to what is to come. With INSIDE Secure still mulling over an IPO it also gives potential investors some clues as to whether or not to invest.
Laurent Sanchez’s background is in chip technologies, electronic payment, and mobile software. He brings valuable industry relationships to INSIDE Secure and its growing ecosystem of mobile, NFC, and payment partners. If we know anything the world is about relationships, and in the newish industry we call NFC knowing who’s who and being on first name terms can be the difference between securing business and coming away empty handed. That’s just human nature, we trust who and what we are familiar with.
Nokia N9 NFC phone starts shipping, fails to say where
Posted by Seth Planck
September 27th, 2011 at 3:53 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Press Release, Videos
Nokia N9 NFC phone starts shipping, fails to say where
Nokia has finally started shipping its Nokia N9 NFC smartphone around the world. In a press release today Nokia confirmed that the Nokia N9 will be in consumers’ hands imminently, but failed to say which markets would see the Nokia N9 and which carriers would be selling the first and last Nokia Meego device.
“Since we announced the Nokia N9 in June this year, the feedback that it has gotten from discerning and avid smartphone users across the world has been nothing short of fantastic,” said Ilari Nurmi, Vice President of Marketing at Nokia. “With the innovations in industrial design, user interface, and the Qt developer experience, the Nokia N9 sets the bar for how natural technology can feel, and represents the first in a number of products from Nokia that will be brought to life in similar fashion.”
Isis announces NFC phone allies for the looming wallet wars
Posted by Thomas Gamboa
September 27th, 2011 at 2:43 PM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release
Isis announces HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Samsung Mobile, Sony Ericsson and DeviceFidelity as NFC phone allies for the looming wallet wars
Isis today announced that HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Samsung Mobile, Sony Ericsson and DeviceFidelity have committed to supporting the upcoming mobile wallet provider with NFC phones. For a service that won’t even open the doors until as late as the middle of next year, Isis is certainly making a lot of noise about its as yet non-existent service. We very much view this announcement as an obvious non-news statement to detract attention from Google Wallet. Of course, these OEM handset manufacturers are going to produce NFC phones that use SIM based NFC. They wouldn’t want to cut out the ability to get on to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile USA’s networks. However, there are a few interesting aspects of this news that we will go into later in this post.
The official line from Isis:
“Isis’ technology standards provide the direction and certainty needed for the development and deployment of NFC devices and the mobile commerce ecosystem,” said Scott Mulloy, Chief Technology Officer at Isis. “Working together with the device makers and our founding mobile carriers, Isis can provide the consumer choice and scale necessary for widespread adoption of mobile commerce.”
Google Wallet predicament NFC Rumors exclusive
Feature RumorPosted by Seth Planck
September 27th, 2011 at 12:44 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News, Rumor
The Google Wallet predicament NFC Rumors exclusive
Although Google Wallet is out in the open and available to some, the details on how Google Wallet is building out have been shrouded in mystery. Well, that is until today. NFC Rumors has received information from a source who is close to the matter who revealed some details Google and others would have preferred you didn’t know.
The Google Wallet roll out predicament
Google Wallet released last week to the general public with a specific Android update pushed to Sprint Nexus S 4G customers that enabled the Google Wallet and Secure Element for the first time. However, executives within Google are said to be releasing that they are going to have to spend some money to market the nascent NFC mobile wallet to attract more attention. As crazy as that may seem with all the media attention take up has been lower than expected. This is probably due to one phone that is capable of making these payments that is starting to age compared to other NFC phones that are making their way into the market.
HTC Amaze to hit T-Mobile USA with NFC support October 10th
Posted by Seth Planck
September 26th, 2011 at 4:39 PM Filed Under Latest News
HTC Amaze to hit T-Mobile USA with NFC support October 10th
The NFC phone news just keeps on trucking today as T-Mobile announce the HTC Amaze that’s loving some NFC goodness. We have known that the HTC Amaze has been rumored for some time, but we didn’t know if it would come adorned with onboard NFC until today. So far, we have only known the HTC Amaze by its code name “Ruby”. Today, we also learned that the NFC phone will bring its love to town thanks to T-Mobile USA.
NFC getting too hot for you? ATI helps you monitor it with Android app
Posted by Seth Planck
September 26th, 2011 at 1:22 PM Filed Under Latest News
NFC getting too hot for you? ATI helps you monitor it with it’s LOG-IC Android app
No, not that ATI – we mean American Thermal Instruments and their LOG-IC NFC data logger Android app that measures temperature, of course. ATI outed their new Android app based tool at the IQPC Cold Chain Conference in Philadelphia, where the company demonstrated the LOG-IC NFC app on the legendary Google Nexus S NFC smartphone. ATI’s LOG-IC NFC data logger scans, reviews, and communicates real-time temperature monitoring data. ATI says that this app is the first in the cold chain industry to provide fully functional end-to-end temperature monitoring in real-time.
“LOG-IC was designed to take full advantage of advances in wireless technology,” said Matty Toomb, ATI Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The NFC app continues our efforts to deliver comprehensive, easy-to-use temperature monitoring solutions that reduce risk, while saving time and costs.”
Broadcom unleashes its first BCM2079x NFC chips
Posted by Seth Planck
September 26th, 2011 at 11:01 AM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release
Broadcom outs its first BCM2079x NFC chips in 40 NM that brings connectivity to Bluetooth and WiFi
Broadcom has announced that its first NFC chips are ready to roll in a 40 NM flavor. We are pretty excited about Broadcom’s announcement because its NFC chips represent an evolution that is already taking place in near field communications hardware. The BCM2079x is the first near field communications (NFC) chip to be manufactured in 40 NM CMOS process which allows for a smaller size and subsequent power consumption, the company explains. In fact, Broadcom goes on to explain that these new NFC chips are an industry first.
“Broadcom BCM2079x family slashes power consumption by more than 90 percent, uses 40 percent fewer components and has a 40 percent smaller board area, making it the smallest and most power efficient NFC solution on the market,” the company says in its release.
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
Top 11 reasons why you shouldn’t buy a phone without NFC
Posted by Seth Planck
September 25th, 2011 at 7:33 PM Filed Under Latest News
Top 11 reasons why you shouldn’t buy a phone without NFC
NFC has reached a point where its inclusion in everyday life is a certainty within the next couple of years, and for consumers to benefit from NFC features they will need an NFC phone. Whether your penchant is for NFC payments or you like the Bluetooth pairing to speakers, near field communication is coming. Within the next year or so, we expect NFC keys to cards starting to become popular. Also expect NFC features built straight into our cars. Smartphone manufacturers are already starting to produce NFC phones and they are becoming more prevalent by the day, but there are still going to be non NFC-phones marketed to consumers. This post is about why you shouldn’t tie yourself into a contract on a phone that doesn’t come with the aforementioned capabilities.
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Intel, Nokia, Research in Motion, Huawei, Acer and Mozilla have said they intend to support NFC in products from now on. Service companies like Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Rogers Communications and many more are building their businesses around the model of harnessing near field communications for their customers. However, the big “will they, won’t they?” question lays with the Apple iPhone 5. Many doubt that Apple will include a near field communication chip within its latest and greatest smartphone. We still think it is a 50 /50 split on the probability that the company will support NFC. However, if Apple doesn’t support near field communication, Apple fans will have been done a disservice by the company and there are plenty of Android handsets that are just as, if not more capable, than the iPhone.
GlobalPlatform launches its compliance trademark
Posted by Seth Planck
September 24th, 2011 at 4:22 PM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release
GlobalPlatform launches its compliance trademark
Global Platform has announced the launch of its compliance trademark to ensure the creation and maintenance of an interoperable, sustainable and trusted end-to-end environment for managing applications on secure chip technology. If you come to NFC Rumors on a somewhat regular basis, you will know that we yarn on about security, Secure Elements and standards like those put forward by organizations like the NFC Forum. Global Platform is the cross industry, not-for-profit association which identifies, develops and publishes specifications that facilitate the secure and interoperable deployment and management of multiple embedded applications on secure chip technology. GlobalPlatform are the organization that put forward the technical specifications to ensure that the secure element in your Google Nexus S is secure, or an NFC SIM or NFC USIM is tamper-proof.
NFC has started to reach a tipping point where mainstream usage is all but assured. Secure Elements are expected to be used globally across finance, mobile/telecom, government, healthcare, retail and transit industries. In the future, GlobalPlatform’s trademark will also be applicable to card products issued by banks and governments.
Yale NFC door locks caught on video
Posted by Seth Planck
September 23rd, 2011 at 6:05 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Videos
Yale NFC door locks caught on video
We covered the Yale story when the company made the announcement that it had developed NFC door locks earlier this month. At the time we had questions about how the system worked and backup considerations and appealed for anyone who was heading to the CEDIA Expo to grab some video and photographs of the Yale NFC door locks in use. It turns out that CEPro did just that and turned up some extra details on the NFC door locks too.
Ever since that fateful day, when shampoo met conditioner in a single bottle we humans have been fascinated by the efficiency of converging things. We want to save time, save energy and save space and NFC looks to add a whole lot of convergence to our lives, including chucking out the keys and using our NFC phones to gain access to our homes via NFC door locks. Yale has the NFC door locks and there are plenty of NFC phones sprinting their way to market.
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.
Consumers have smartphone security concerns but don’t install security apps as NFC payments arrive
FeaturePosted by Seth Planck
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:59 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
A NPD Group study suggests that consumers are not managing smartphone security as NFC payments arrive
NPD Group found that people are worried about security but do very little about it when it comes to smartphones – we wonder will it still be the same for NFC phones? Google Wallet just launched, but there are still people out there who are concerned about the security of NFC mobile wallets and NFC payments. A new report out today from the market research firm NPD Group reveals some concerning facts and figures about just how many people are taking action to protect their sensitive data housed on smartphones. The irony is that nearly 40% of all smartphone users are concerned about threats such as activity monitoring, hacking, and credit-card security, and viruses, while more than 33% are worried about harmful apps, malicious emails, and the potential for user-location tracking.
We think you will agree that there are significant amount of concerns surrounding the security of smartphones, we have also seen report after report that suggest people are also worried about NFC payments. So it is amazing that the report found that 82 percent of smartphone users have no security apps installed on their smartphones.
STMicroelectronics supports NFC in Windows 8
Posted by Seth Planck
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:14 PM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release
STMicroelectronics supports NFC in Windows 8
When Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would support NFC it wasn’t really surprising to hear that much of the existing industry would rally to support Windows 8, and today you can add STMicroelectronics to that list. In fact, STMicroelectronics has worked with Microsoft to enable ST’s NFC solution support for the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
Windows 8 support for NFC has taken NFC out from the cold and thrust it in the lime light. The question we hear now is not if will NFC take off, but when it will be available in PCs and consumer electronics. That shift has happened over the last three months. What people who are new to NFC are starting to realize is that there has been a bustling industry here for quite some time, and that it is now ready to support near field communications in consumer electronics. The Windows 8 support is useful on a grander scheme of integration for our lives and professional needs.
Sonim launches XP1301 CORE NFC rugged NFC phone at NFC World Congress
Posted by Seth Planck
September 22nd, 2011 at 10:01 AM Filed Under Latest News, Videos
Sonim launches XP1301 CORE NFC rugged NFC phone at NFC World Congress
Sonim has launched its XP1301 CORE NFC rugged NFC phone at NFC World Congress and the company is announcing it as the world’s first ultra-rugged Near Field Communications (NFC) mobile phone. Now we are sure this phone will not beat out that new NFC Galaxy S II you have had your eye on, but your pocket is not really the market Sonim is aiming for with this industrially strong Sonim XP1301 CORE NFC phone.
The company has designed this hardware for markets that include cleaning, security, facilities management, equipment maintenance and home visit healthcare. In other words, the Sonim XP1301 CORE NFC rugged NFC phone is a piece of work equipment that will take a beating and still work great even after being dropped.
“The XP1301 CORE NFC will withstand hard use every day for three years or more, has battery life under heavy use longer than the longest work shift and comes with enterprise level service and support,” said Sanjay Jhawar, VP/GM of Marketing and Applications at Sonim.
“This kind of extreme reliability delivers a total cost of ownership that allows every front-line worker to be included,” said Philippe Martineau, EVP NFC Business Line at Inside Secure. “INSIDE is proud to announce the integration of MicroRead and Open NFC with the ultra rugged Sonim XP1301 CORE NFC for vertical industry applications,” he added.
Adobe Flash Player 11 & AIR 3 now supports NFC, Devs go wild
Posted by Seth Planck
September 21st, 2011 at 9:52 PM Filed Under Latest News, Press Release, Videos
Adobe Flash Player 11 & AIR 3 now support NFC for pairing and potentially payments
We knew that the new version of Adobe Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 would finally getting Flash on to the iPad and iPhone, but what we didn’t know until recently was Adobe has built in some NFC goodness too! Games and video playback can benefit from NFC. Switching from an iPad to a PC or from a phone to a tablet, saving game play where you left off or handing a video over at the exact moment you stopped watching on one device, so it starts playing on the next device all becomes reality by allowing NFC and Flash work together. Adobe hasn’t really elaborated much on exactly what functions will be available or whether its support for NFC includes emulation, peer-to-peer and, of course, read / write.
From what we can tell based on one small paragraph of text which refers to NFC support, AIR 3 allows developers to use existing code libraries with deep native hardware and OS capabilities. As well as the usual slew of sensors including gyroscopes, magnetometers, light sensors, etc.), multiple screens, native in-app payments, haptic/vibration control, device status, the new development Adobe Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 will add NFC (Near Field Communications) to that list. Check out the videos below to see it in action.
T-Mobile hocks NFC BlackBerry Curve 9360 for $79 September 28th
Posted by Seth Planck
September 21st, 2011 at 5:35 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Press Release
T-Mobile will hock you a BlackBerry Curve 9360 for $79 September 28th
We have seen the BlackBerry Curve 9360 NFC phone before. Back then it was known as the BlackBerry Curve Apollo. Now the NFC phone has a carrier buddy in T-Mobile, which means you can get one for the affordable price of $79 after a $50 mail in rebate. Remember the BlackBerry Curve 9360 comes sans a touch screen so don’t get your heart broken if that’s what you wanted. However, the little BlackBerry Curve 9360 does have quite a lot going for it as you can see below in the specifications.
In the technical sense the BlackBerry Curve 9360 is an NFC phone, but don’t be surprised if when you get your new NFC pocket mate the NFC is switched off at the software level. We exclusively revealed that RIM has not fully built out and worked out the bugs in their NFC drivers as yet, but you will at least have a phone that will be NFC capable at some time in the future. If you look below in the press release, you will see no word on the NFC capabilities that the phone was originally marketed with. We have been assured by people close to the situation that the NFC chip is still there, just waiting to be woken up with a software update.
NFC social check-ins come of age with RewardAble marketing platform
Posted by Seth Planck
September 21st, 2011 at 11:57 AM Filed Under Latest News
NFC social check-ins come of age with RewardAble marketing platform
Has the NFC social check-in just come of age with RewardAble and its NFC loyalty marketing platform? Betapond has announced today that it has built an NFC social check-in platform it likes to call RewardAble. RewardAble is a social media check-in marketing platform that enables brands and retailers to grow participation through instant rewards for consumers for who check-in on Facebook or Foursquare on their NFC smartphone. Betapond is Ireland’s only Facebook Preferred Developer. RewardAble is a stand-alone subsidiary of Betapond, which was announced at a Innovation in Entertainment Showcase event in Sony Pictures Hollywood. The company is using a viral expansion loop marketing model that rewards participants when they check-in and share their location with friends on social networks. By using NFC at check-in places, the process of taking part in the RewardAble platform is frictionless.