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The global appetite for contactless technologies shows no sign of abating as the 2012 Contactless Intelligence Contactless & Mobile Awards honour achievements across a wide range of sectors and countries throughout Europe and further a field.
Now in its fifth year, the Contactless & Mobile Awards (this year sponsored by Visa Europe and Telefonica O2) has yet again attracted a record turnout, making it an important fixture in the contactless calendar. “We’ve seen entry numbers grow year-on-year, highlighting the dynamism of this burgeoning industry,” said Steve Atkins, CEO of Krowne Communications, the company behind Contactless Intelligence. “Whereas other awards ceremonies focus on behind-the-scenes technological innovations, we honour those firms that are really making a difference in getting contactless devices into the hands of users and encouraging consumers to use them at both major international and small retailers throughout the world. This year we changed the categories slightly to reflect the growing spectrum of uses and implementations of contactless and NFC technology as you would expect from such a dynamic industry. The quality and quantity of entries reflect this dynamism.”
This year’s CMA champions accepted their trophies at a gala dinner at Tower Bridge Hilton, London, on April 26, 2012. The winners are:
- Competitive Advantage – Coca-Cola / Vianet (UK)
- Transportation and Ticketing – Banca Commerciale Romana (Romania)
- Mobile Payment Application of the Year – Google Wallet (US)
- Contactless / NFC Innovation of the Year – Qolpac (The Netherlands)
- Best Customer Experience – Garanti Bank (Turkey)
- Loyalty – Kadona (Austria)
- Public Domain – Connecthings (France)
- Best Marketing Campaign using Contactless / NFC Technology – Proxama (UK)
- Best Contactless / NFC Infrastructure – VeriFone (UK)
- Contactless / NFC Eco-System – Glodyne Technoserve (India)
In addition, Visa Europe presented its Visa payWave award for The Visa payWave award for Best Contactless Awareness and Education Campaign to McDonald’s (UK), while Kevin Doran from McDonald’s (UK) won the Visa payWave Business Leader of the Year prize.
“We are very pleased to be sponsoring the Contactless and Mobile Awards again in 2012. The increasing number and quality of nominations over the last five years is a great reflection of the growth in the market place. There are now more than 31 million Visa contactless cards in Europe, and an expectation that by the end of 2012 that number will be in excess of 50 million. The acceptance side is also set for rapid growth through 2012, with plans from tier 1 retailers set to push the number of terminals by 50% over the course of the year," said Mark Austin, Head of Contactless at Visa Europe (Platinum Sponsors of the CMAs).
“Telefonica UK is delighted to support again the Contactless Intelligence and the Contactless & Mobile Awards. We are passionate about driving and supporting innovation as reflected in our brand approach of ‘fresh thinking and new possibilities’. We were extremely impressed with the quality of the nominations for the Awards and extend our congratulations to all of those involved,” said Craig Oldroyd, Director Of Mobile Commerce, Telefonica UK (Gold Sponsors of the CMA’s).
Atkins said: “The quality of awards’ entries continues to improve each year, demonstrating that contactless is fast becoming a technology that brings advantages to citizens and businesses alike. Whether it’s to increase throughput, to reduce the amount of cash used by a firm or to encourage spending, more merchants are choosing to give contactless a go. And they’re being encouraged to do so by consumers who are rapidly recognising the benefits of the technology in terms of convenience and time saving.”
This year’s judges included Wendy Atkins, Contactless Intelligence; Paul Chamberlain, Association for Convenience Stores; Michel Barjansky, independent transport consultant; Mark Austin, Visa Europe; Kevin Farquharson, Smart Card Networking Forum; Samee Zafar, Edgar Dunn; John Berry, European Commission (Research & Innovative Transport Systems); Craig Oldroyd, O2; Paul Naldrett, SIMalliance; and Sirpa Nordlund, Mobey Forum.
“The number of firms that now want to talk about what they are doing with contactless globally is encouraging for the industry, but it makes the judges’ job tougher every year,” added Atkins. “We’re grateful for the time everyone spent analysing the input in some very tough categories. There were some particularly strong entries in certain categories, such as Loyalty and Best Customer Experience which meant some of the results were incredibly close.”
