Kimtag Release TwinConnect Combined NFC and QR Code Stickers

Kimtag has launched TwinConnect, a new range of combined QR Code and NFC tag stickers offering the latest connection technologies in one package.

Kimtag TwinConnect NFC & QR Code Sticker

TwinConnect allows Kimtag users to be among the first to benefit from using NFC.

London, UK (PRWEB UK) October 2011

Kimtag has launched TwinConnect, a new range of combined QR Code and NFC tag stickers. Designed specifically for the Kimtag connection sharing platform, TwinConnect products aim to help users offer the latest NFC functionality with the added confidence of a QR Code backup.

TwinConnect stickers are available in a selection of print styles in both standard sticker and window sticker formats. The TwinConnect window sticker being ideally suited for shops and stores so that traders can catch potential customers passing by even when they are closed.

Kimtag also offer a choice of free encoding options including the vTag tracking solution allowing users to analyse the performance of the QR Code and NFC tag elements individually on every sticker.

Phil Coote, Kimtag's CEO commented, "There has been a rapidly growing demand for NFC products but we know our users are concerned about the availability of NFC enabled smartphones. TwinConnect is designed to help our users be among the first to use NFC but without taking the any new technology risk."

About Kimtag
Launched in 2011, Kimtag is a connection hub designed to make it easier to share multiple connections such as social networks, websites and blogs.

Currently, over 75,000 Kimtags connect people via QR Codes, NFC tags and web links to companies, organisations, products and events every minute of every day.

iQmetrix Survey Finds the Face of the Retail Store is Changing

"State of the Wireless Industry" Survey Reveals Resellers are Positive About Growth with Close to 90 Percent Looking to Improve In-Store Experience

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- iQmetrix, the leading provider of retail management software for the North American wireless industry, today announced the results of its 7th annual "State of the Wireless Industry" survey released at its Wireless Summit held inMiami, FL October 16-18. The survey, conducted by iQmetrix, polled 158 independent wireless resellers across North America, and provides an inside peek at trends, challenges and plans for expansion.

The most significant finding was that despite economic uncertainty, the majority of mobile resellers expect growth over the next five years. Additionally, nearly half of the mobile resellers surveyed see recruiting and retaining staff to be one of their biggest business challenges.

Highlights

• Nearly 70 percent of respondents believe the industry will continue to grow over the next five years, with the same percentage planning to expand their businesses.
• More than 85 percent plan to improve the in-store experience in 2012 with a focus on employee training (88 percent) and store design (63 percent).
• Mobile payments, digital signage, interactive retail and location-based advertising will be the top in-store investments for 2012.
• 70 percent of respondents are currently using social media to communicate with their customers and many are planning to invest in mobile advertising in the near future.
• Trends and technology that respondents consider important for the future include: 4G, mobile broadband growth beyond traditional devices with a continued growth of tablets and mobile payments.

The Case for Interactive Retail

Proliferation of online shopping and mobile purchase research has increased consumer awareness and decreased patience for in-store assistance. Consumers are now disenchanted with traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

Today's shopper looks for a new, more convenient, informative and engaging in-store experience; an experience providing all the benefits of online shopping and in-person shopping including the ability to touch and try the desired product and leave the store with it in hand.

The information gap between customers and salespeople further deteriorates the quality of the customer experience.

• 55 percent of retailers believe shoppers are better connected to information than store associates(1).
• In-store smartphone research influenced 39 percent of walk-outs: 12 percent went online to check other retailers' prices; 8 percent checked product availability at other stores(1).
• By empowering consumers with pre-purchase information, salespeople are often at a disadvantage as their customers become more knowledgeable about the prospective product. Meanwhile, retailers hire the best sales people available, but face common challenges related to training and retention.

In the end, wireless retailers and analysts agree that today's brick-and-mortar retail must offer a convenient, informative and engaging, hands-on experience while combining the benefits of online and in-store shopping.

The "State of the Wireless Industry" survey is a highlight of the annual iQmetrix Wireless Summit, the largest event for independent wireless retailers in North America. More than 700 wireless industry attendees came this year to the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami to learn effective strategies for managing and growing their wireless retail business, network with leading wireless retailers and gain insight from industry experts on current trends and forecasts in wireless retail.  

Supporting Quotes:

• Christopher Krywulak, CEO, iQmetrix said: "These responses reinforce our customer's commitment to deliver a better in-store experience as online shopping and customer knowledge increases. iQmetrix supports this effort by delivering great experiences to our customers and in-turn, their customers. With interactive retail technology in place, stores are seeing a major drop in walkouts, better employee retention and a real increase in consumer interest, sales efficiency and profitability."
• Gerald Buchko, VP of Sales and Marketing, Jump.ca said: "According to a recent ROI and customer experience study, our investment in interactive retail technology has delivered a substantial return on investment. It has boosted store revenue and profit, and also increased brand recognition and awareness."

Social Media Resources

• XQ Interactive Retail YouTube Video
• State of the Industry Panel
• Blog Posts: www.iqmetrix.com/industry-news-and-views
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/iQmetrix  
  • @iQmetrix
  • #deliverwow

About iQmetrix

iQmetrix is the leading provider of retail management solutions for the North American wireless industry. We strive to create the ultimate retail experience for the consumer, the employee and the business. Our flagship product, RQ4, is a complete software solution designed for wireless retailers to manage people, business processes and strategic decision-making. Our new product, XQ Interactive Retail, is a suite of in-store digital media solutions that provide an engaging way to educate and guide customers through the process of buying a mobile device. iQmetrix is a privately held software as a service (SaaS) company with offices inCanada and the United States. www.iQmetrix.com

(1)  Motorola Solutions Survey: Shoppers Better Connected than Store Associates, January 2011

SOURCE iQmetrix

INSIDE Secure Ships 10 Millionth NFC Chip

October 25, 2011 05:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

INSIDE Secure Surpasses 10 Million Unit Milestone for NFC Chip Shipments

NFC Market Achieves Liftoff in Year One of Commercial NFC Deployment

4G World 2011

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--INSIDE Secure, a leader in semiconductor solutions for secure transactions and digital identity, today announced it has shipped more than 10 million MicroRead^® and SecuRead^® NFC solutions to date this year to multiple manufacturers of a broad range of mobile NFC devices. This milestone heralds the imminent arrival of mainstream NFC smartphones and devices to global markets as the industry achieves liftoff in 2011, and means that devices with INSIDE NFC solutions will soon be in the hands of millions of people who will use them to enjoy the rich consumer experiences of new mobile services.

“Our MicroRead and SecuRead NFC solutions are contributing to the current market acceleration because they offer clear, demonstrable advantages over competitive offerings for a range of applications”

“Our MicroRead and SecuRead NFC solutions are contributing to the current market acceleration because they offer clear, demonstrable advantages over competitive offerings for a range of applications,” said Charles Walton, chief operating officer for INSIDE Secure. “INSIDE’s NFC chip shipments indicate that this market is achieving significant penetration as more and more mobile device and other consumer electronics device makers begin to integrate NFC functionality into their product offerings. It also means that device makers recognize the numerous advantages the MicroRead and SecuRead products offer in terms of performance, efficiency, cost savings and flexibility.”

"If there was ever tangible evidence needed that NFC is no longer science fiction, but a technology that is about to hit the streets, this is it,” said Nick Holland, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “Clearly, NFC is here and now.”

According to Walton, MicroRead and SecuRead offer a number of compelling advantages to NFC device makers. The MicroRead NFC microcontroller features the lowest standby current in the industry, more than four times lower than other commercial products, resulting in a power-friendly implementation for mobile devices. Device implementations with MicroRead and SecuRead also require significantly fewer external components, resulting in the smallest footprint in the industry at less than 70 mm². Further, MicroRead achieves EMVco card emulation compliance with a minimal 40 x15 mm antenna size – more than 30 percent smaller than any other commercial product.

With the same exact package size and pin-out as MicroRead, the INSIDE SecuRead system-in-package today offers 25 percent more secure applet and data storage capacity – 106K bytes – than other commercially available secure elements, and will be expanded to 144K bytes in a first half 2012 release. Based upon an internal benchmark of Visa mobile applet performance, SecuRead is 20 percent faster than other available NFC implementations, proving most suitable for open bank card payments in emerging transit systems. Support is uniquely provided within SecuRead for over-the-air (OTA) updates of OS functionality, providing the greatest flexibility over the life cycle of NFC devices.

SecuRead features the most substantive applet library in the industry—from payment to transit to ID to retail applications—and is unique in supporting mobile device-based HID iClass physical access control applications within the NFC market.

A third-generation product that sets a new standard for ease of integration, the award-winning MicroRead NFC controller offers the broadest range of NFC options and provides the capacity to implement any secure element, including SIM, SE or SD card, to support any business model. When incorporated into cell phones, PDAs or PCs, MicroRead chips enable them to operate both like RF readers and contactless smart cards or RFID tags. The SecuRead solution started shipping earlier this year, and integrates the MicroRead NFC controller with a high-performance secure element and a GlobalPlatform-compliant Java Card™ operating system. Both products are integrated with the INSIDE Open NFC protocol stack to provide best-of-breed solutions within multiple device ecosystems. INSIDE operational capacity now exceeds five million units per month for NFC chip shipments and will increase in 2012 to meet the demands of this rapidly growing market.

Several leading handset makers have introduced smartphones integrating NFC capabilities already this year, and the number of NFC phones introduced is expected to accelerate in 2012. At the same time, mobile operators, banks and other service providers in the U.S. and Europe have started forming associations or more formal joint ventures to prepare for NFC rollouts next year, and are building interoperable platforms for mobile wallets and over-the-air provisioning and management of applications.

INSIDE Secure has long played a leading role in NFC technology innovation, including the ownership of several important NFC patents. The company has been an active member of the NFC Forum since its formation, and sits on the board of directors. INSIDE was instrumental in developing the ETSI NFC standard, working with other industry leaders to co-author the specification, with the result that INSIDE now enjoys early implementation of this standard.

About INSIDE Secure

INSIDE Secure is a leading designer, developer and supplier of semiconductors, embedded software and platforms for secure transactions and digital security. INSIDE mobile NFC, secure payment and digital security products provide security for a wide range of information processing, storage and transmission applications. The company’s customers are found in a wide range of markets including mobile payment, identification documents, access control, transit, electronic device manufacturing, pay television and mobile service operators. As a fabless company, INSIDE shipped nearly 400 million semiconductors in 2010, ranking it among the leaders in most of its markets. For more information visit www.insidesecure.com.

Note to editors: INSIDE COO Charles Walton will deliver a keynote address at the NFC Summit during 4G World 2011 in Chicago. Mr. Walton’s presentation is entitled “Scaling NFC Rollouts with a Standard Authentication Framework,” and will be given at 11:45 a.m. on October 26 in Room S-501, McCormick Place.

Mercator Advisory Group to Present Debit Research Results with TSYS

October 24, 2011 04:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time 

TSYS and Mercator Advisory Group to Present 2011 Consumer Debit Research Results at ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum

19th Annual ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum

COLUMBUS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TSYS^® (NYSE: TSS) announced today that Sarah Hartman, senior director of Payment Solutions for TSYS, and Patricia Hewitt, director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Debit Advisory Service, will present at the upcoming ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum on Friday, November 4^th as part of the Debit Track.

“How Consumers Pay and How That May Change in the Future”

The session, “How Consumers Pay and How That May Change in the Future,” will provide information and engage the audience for feedback on the results of the TSYS-commissioned “2011 Consumer Debit Research Study” conducted by Mercator. The two-part research study included an online survey and a series of in-person focus groups on how consumers currently pay for a variety of transactions, why they use one payment form over another, and how those behaviors and preferences might change depending upon the cost and availability of various payment choices. Session participants will receive a copy of the study, as well as hear ideas on how to leverage the research findings. The research will also be available at TSYS’ booth at the event or by registering for the research at www.tsys.com/debit.

The 19^th annual ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum will be held Nov. 1-4, 2011 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and will feature a program designed to provide actionable information on ATMs, debit cards, prepaid cards, mobile payments and regulation. For more information, log on to http://www.paymentssource.pth4.com/conferences/atmdebit.

About TSYS

TSYS (NYSE: TSS) is reshaping a new era in digital commerce, connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Through unmatched customer service and industry insight, TSYS creates a better experience for buyers and sellers, supporting cross-border payments in more than 85 countries. Offering merchant payment-acceptance solutions as well as services in credit, debit, prepaid, mobile, chip, healthcare, installments, money transfer and more, TSYS makes it possible for those in the global marketplace to conduct safe and secure electronic transactions with trust and convenience.

TSYS’ headquarters are located in Columbus, Georgia, with local offices spread across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. TSYS provides services to more than half of the top 20 international banks. For more information, please visit us at www.tsys.com.

About Mercator Advisory Group

Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver independent and objective analysis that assists our members in uncovering new market opportunities and optimizing current strategic initiatives for maximum revenue generation and cost containment. Our commitment and exclusive focus on the payments and banking industries enables us to consistently provide highly relevant content and exceptional value. Our clients range from the world’s largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors.

Singapore Selects Gemalto's TSM for Nation-wide Near Field Communication (NFC) Roll-out

October 25, 2011 04:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) awards call-for-collaboration to Gemalto-led consortium

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto, (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces its selection by IDA as the trusted third party to deploy mobile NFC contactless services across Singapore.

“Gemalto is delighted to lead this landmark project. We believe that businesses will benefit from new revenue streams while consumers enjoy a greater array of new services - faster, safer and more conveniently”

Gemalto will develop and operate its Trusted Services Manager (TSM) solution to securely deploy and manage mobile NFC services such as payment, ticketing, loyalty and other wireless services like the smart poster which allows consumers to interact with advertisements.

With Singapore’s three mobile operators all connected to this interoperable NFC infrastructure, banks, payment and service providers will be able to deploy innovative mobile NFC services to all mobile subscribers. This open yet secure platform will also encourage widespread participation by businesses and service providers from wide-ranging industries to join the ecosystem to offer more consumer services, including mobile coupons, mobile tickets and product information.

The complete TSM operation will take place in a secure environment in Singapore, whereby end users’ data is provisioned confidentially over the air to their devices.

“Gemalto is delighted to lead this landmark project. We believe that businesses will benefit from new revenue streams while consumers enjoy a greater array of new services - faster, safer and more conveniently,” said Tan Teck Lee, President of Gemalto Asia.

“The TTP infrastructure will enable prospective service providers to reach out to all mobile subscribers in Singapore. Such ubiquitous access will spur the growth and adoption of innovative NFC mobile services, and in turn transform Singapore’s payment landscape. The CFC award today is an important milestone in the development of the NFC ecosystem that will enable the deployment of payment as well as other services.” said RADM (NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA.

The project is expected to launch commercially to consumers from middle of 2012.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2010 annual revenues of €1.9 billion and over 10,000 employees operating out of 87 offices and 13 Research & Development centers in 45 countries.

Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure. Gemalto delivers on the growing demands for personal mobile services, identity protection, payment security, authenticated online services, cloud computing access, modern transportation, e-healthcare and e-government services. Gemalto does this by providing secure software, a wide range of secure personal devices, and managed services to wireless operators, banks, enterprises and government agencies.

Gemalto is the world leader for electronic passports and identity cards, two-factor authentication devices for online protection, smart credit/debit and contactless payment cards, as well as subscriber identification modules (SIM) and universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) in mobile phones. Also, in the emerging machine-to-machine applications Gemalto is a leading supplier of wireless modules and machine identification modules (MIM). To operate these solutions and remotely manage the software and confidential data contained in the secure devices Gemalto also provides server platforms, consulting, training, and managed services to help its customers achieve their goals.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the Company is poised to thrive over the coming years.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter.

Sparkasse Suedholstein Secures eBanking with Gemalto’s Ezio Optical Reader

October 25, 2011 01:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

• Credit card-sized reader solution replaces paper-based One-Time-Passwords
• Innovative optical screen-reading feature simplifies and shortens data entry by consumers
• Miniaturized format provides utmost portability and convenience

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announces that Sparkasse Suedholstein is deploying Gemalto’s Ezio strong authentication optical readers to better protect its online customers. The Gemalto solution eliminates the need for paper-based lists of One-Time-Passwords (“iTAN”, Indexed Transaction Authentication Number”) and adds the higher level of security of the smart banking card. The bank is part of the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe, the leading banking group in Germany with 45 million retail accounts. The unique credit card-sized optical authentication device is easy to carry around in your wallet and offers a high level of mobility and convenience. With 27 million ebanking users¹, Germany has the largest number of online customer base in Europe.

“Portability, security and user-friendliness are key to boosting customer acceptance, which was the main consideration in selecting the Ezio TAN“, said Stefan Tute, Head of media distribution, eBanking, Sparkasse Suedholstein. “The Gemalto innovation creates a simple and straightforward trusted environment for our online banking.“”

Ezio TAN combines utmost ease-of-use and speed with the security of EMV debit cards. Customers of Sparkasse Suedholstein simply place the device in front of their PC screen or the display of their tablets or smartphones. Optical sensors capture the transaction data that would otherwise be entered via the reader keypad to perform online transactions. The Gemalto Ezio TAN is a zero footprint solution, i.e. it requires no additional or specific software installation for the end user, making usage and adoption even easier.

“Portability, security and user-friendliness are key to boosting customer acceptance, which was the main consideration in selecting the Ezio TAN“, said Stefan Tute, Head of media distribution, eBanking, Sparkasse Suedholstein. “The Gemalto innovation creates a simple and straightforward trusted environment for our online banking.“

“Sparkasse Suedholstein has foreseen the needs of their online customers for a convenient authentication solution that fits in their wallet,“ said Håkan Nordfjell, Senior Vice President eBanking Gemalto. “Ezio TAN is perfectly suited to meet the increasing demand to sign transactions in a simple and secure manner, even more so with the expansion of eCommerce.”

See Sparkasse Suedholstein video case study at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngow5x_4qJw

¹ Source: BITKOM Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media. BITKOM ist he voice of the information technology, telecommunications, and new media industry in Germany.

Over 10 Million Online Identity Records Were Lost in September 2011

10,461,621 Online Identity Records Were Lost in September 2011, According to the IdentityHawk Identity Breach Report

IdentityHawk’s September 2011 report accounted for 54 publicly-known breaches. IdentityHawk members, armed with information, could take action to help “stop fraud before it starts.”

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IdentityHawk® reported 54 publicly-known breaches in September compromising 10,461,621 online records. The results are part of the “breached institutions” listing from the IdentityHawk September 2011 Identity Breach Report.

“So far in 2011, 26.5% of the breaches identified in the ITRC Breach Report have been a result of hacking”

The 10 million-plus online records compromised are a huge jump from the August report that had 678,614 compromised online records as found in the IdentityHawk August 2011 Identity Breach Report. August accounted for 44 publicly known breaches, versus 54 in September.

According to Jeff Paradise, executive director of IdentityHawk, “The huge spike in records exposed in September was due to three large breaches reported during the month, each with more than a million records. However, in tracking this for the past few years, we have found it is normal for the number of total records to be sporadic from month-to-month. But, consumers must remember it only takes one breach to compromise their identity.”

IdentityHawk is a leading identity protection service that aggressively zeroes-in on potential threats to help consumers safeguard their identity.

A data breach, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), is “an event in which an individual’s name plus Social Security Number (SSN), driver’s license number, medical record, or a financial record/credit/debit card is potentially put at risk – either in electronic or paper format.”

Cyber-attacks are a leading factor in the number of reported data breaches during 2011, with cyber criminals becoming more organized and forming cyber-gangs to create more targeted cyber-attacks.

“So far in 2011, 26.5% of the breaches identified in the ITRC Breach Report have been a result of hacking,” said Karen Barney, program director at the ITRC. It should be noted that the ITRC Breach Report identifies only U.S. breaches and not breaches originating outside of the U.S.

IdentityHawk’s constant data breach alert service is part of IdentityHawk’s comprehensive “Fraud Screening.” It assures that IdentityHawk members can take swift action to protect their personal identity, upholding the IdentityHawk promise to help “stop fraud before it starts.”

IdentityHawk members receive alerts of key consumer data breaches. Members can then do the following:

1. Immediately see the details of the breach.

2. Determine if they are affiliated with the fraud event.

3. If affiliated with the breach, IdentityHawk guides members through the steps they need to take protective measures.

Added Paradise, “While cyber crime is becoming more sophisticated, consumers can be more sophisticated as well. Watch for changes in credit scores, credit cards and more. If you see changes, take aggressive action. Stopping identity theft in its tracks can take minutes, restoring an identity can take years,” he said.

About IdentityHawk

IdentityHawk is a leading identity protection service that aggressively zeroes-in on potential threats to help consumers safeguard their identity. Members are warned of potential identity risks so they can take better control to stop fraud before it starts. IdentityHawk is a product of FYI Direct, Inc., a leader in direct-to-consumer credit and identity protection services. For more information, go towww.identityhawk.com.