Thursday, August 2, 2012

PIN Debit: MasterCard's Q2 Volume Triples While Visa's is Cut in Half Compared to Last Year

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VISA’s Chief Financial Officer, Byron H. Pollitt reported Wednesday that Interlink, VISA’s PIN-debit network experienced a 54% decrease in payment volume when compared to a year earlier.  This plunge is attributed to the Durbin Amendment’s provision that required issuers to add access to more than one PIN network.  Before Durbin, debit cards bearing the VISA logo were required to go through Interlink. 
On the surface, removing this exclusive payment network arrangement would seem to be a good thing for merchants and consumers.  Competition should stimulate lower transaction fees for debit cards now that merchants will have a choice, but it seems that the list of eligible networks is still relatively small. Further, while the merchants have more transaction-routing choices, it will take time to educate merchants on how to use this routing option.  Plus the number of available networks is still relatively small.
Networks that might be picking up VISA’s volume would include First Data Corp and their Star networks, Discover Financier’s Pulse and Fidelity National Information Services’ NYCE.  However analysts are speculating that the big winner for the early adopters of debit card routing is MAESTRO, which is owned by VISA’s big rival MasterCard.  (see below, MasterCard's PIN Debit Volume Tripled.)  MasterCard will announce earnings on August 1, so we will want to watch and see if there is a corresponding bump in the MasterCard PIN-debit card volumes.
VISA continues to beef up product and pricing initiatives that are designed to stop the further deterioration of PIN debit volumes which may in fact mean that the Durbin amendment is working. 
Source: Digital Transactions




MasterCard’s PIN authorized debit transactions rose threefold in the first quarter of 2012, giving the company a huge 20% market share. (See Debit Card Growth Fuels MasterCard’s Q1 Results) This jump was primarily due to the implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill, which requires banks with more than $10 billion in assets to use separate payment processing networks for signature authorized and PIN authorized debit card transactions.

NFC exploit: Be very careful what your smartphone gets near

Web2 new results for "Near Field Communications"
Android subject to Near Field Communications Hack – Not Apple ...
Android subject to Near Field Communications Hack – Not Apple! Many of you already know about the constant feud that goes on related to Android versus ...
blog.gigawidget.com/?p=137
NFC exploit: Be very careful what your smartphone gets near - Jul ...
... "near field communications" features on Samsung and Nokia devices. NFC is a short-range wireless technology that's coming soon to all major smartphones.
money.cnn.com/2012/07/26/technology/nfc-hack/index.htm



Coming To An iPhone Near You: Apple's New Fingerprint Key For Mobile Payments

ePaymentNewsNFC Mobile Payment
Google Expands Mobile Wallet App
Wireless Week
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are set to kick off trials of their NFC-based mobile payments joint venture, Isis. There are also a number of non-NFC mobile payment solutions that are already being widely adopted by consumers, such as Square and PayPal's ...

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Coming To An iPhone Near You: Apple's New Fingerprint Key For Mobile ...
Image representing Seeking Alpha as depicted i...
Image via CrunchBase
Seeking Alpha
Coming To An iPhone Near You: Apple's New Fingerprint Key For Mobile Payments ... The Melbourne, Florida-based company produces chips for fingerprint recognition and NFC (near-field communication), chips for mobile phones and security software.

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Report: Partneships are key to driving NFC adoption
NFCNews (blog)
"A number of factors like more NFC-ready mobile devices and new market participants are favoring the development of the European m-payments market — especially NFC-based payments. Market players are forging cooperation, where a telecom-financial ...
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First Data Corporation has achieved Discover qualification of its TSM solution
RFPConnect.com
"Being one of the first brands to pilot NFC wallets and to issue mobile payment stickers, Discover now has a TSM qualification process that provides our partners with confidence that the platform powering their NFC-based products is highly-secure ...
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The key to NFC adoption? Food stores and iPhone
Mobile Entertainment
M for Mobile surveyed 430 industry insiders on what they thought would drive mass adoption of NFC. No single factor ... $6.43 billion Aug 2nd 2012 at 2:32PM; Google Wallet now stores payment cards on the cloud Aug 2nd 2012 at 12:32PM. Android and ...
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Alaskan Airlines adopts NFC-ready readers from Access IS
NFCNews (blog)
Access' BGR135 unit comes with the ability to scan both mobile and print 2D bar codes, but can be upgraded to accommodate NFC by simply swapping the original base for an NFC-enabled one, according to the company. With the NFC base in place ...
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Visa’s Antitrust Troubles With the European Union Show How Much Needs to Be Done Right Here in the U.S.


WASHINGTON--()--The European Union blasted Visa Europe for restricting competition and raising prices for consumers using the “swipe” fees its banks charge merchants when customers use credit cards. It is confirmation that the swipe fee-setting by the major credit card companies skirts antitrust laws and the principles of market competition.

“We believe at this stage that these fees are a restriction for competition.”
“Our preliminary conclusion is that Visa's [fees] inflate the costs of payment card acceptance and ultimately increase consumer prices,” said Antoine Colombani, spokesman for European competition commissioner JoaquĆ­n Almunia. "We believe at this stage that these fees are a restriction for competition.”
“European regulators are taking action to deal with Visa’s outrageous swipe fees – even though the fees in Europe are a tiny fraction of what they are in the United States,” said Doug Kantor, counsel of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “This should be a wake-up call that credit card swipe fee reform is long overdue here.”
The European Union has been fighting Visa and MasterCard for years over what it says are exorbitant swipe fees charged merchants. The EU, for instance, brought antitrust charges against Visa Europe in April 2009, less than a week after suing MasterCard Inc. European multilateral credit card swipe fees are less than one-third of the fees in the United States (which are the highest in the industrialized world).
Announcements like Tuesday’s typically trigger negotiations between the European Union and the card companies and should lead to fee reductions and lower prices for European consumers.
The Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) - UnfairCreditCardFees.com - is a group of retailers, supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, fuel stations, on-line merchants and other businesses who are fighting against unfair credit card fees and fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that works better for consumers and merchants alike. The coalition's member associations collectively represent about 2.7 million stores with approximately 50 million employees.

Infographic: MasterCard Notes Growing Trend in Government Adoption of Electronic Payments as an Alternative to Cash and Checks

August 01, 2012 01:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time 

South Africa joins United States, Italy, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Romania as latest examples of cashless benefits programs

PURCHASE, N.Y.--()--MasterCard today noted a growing global trend toward governments adopting electronic payments as an alternative to cash and check-based benefit programs. Most recently, the South African Social Security Agency (“SASSA”) distributed more than 2.5 million debit cards to social grant recipients across the country with a target of 10 million cards by March 2013. South Africa joins the United States, Italy, Canada, United Arab Emirates and Romania as the latest examples of governments going paperless as a cost-savings opportunity and a method of addressing the almost 2.5 billion people worldwide that lack access to financial services.
“By supporting governments around the world with electronic payment programs we are helping save money and improve efficiencies, but more importantly, together we are opening up a world of inclusion for those who have previously not had access to traditional financial services”
“By supporting governments around the world with electronic payment programs we are helping save money and improve efficiencies, but more importantly, together we are opening up a world of inclusion for those who have previously not had access to traditional financial services,” said Tim Murphy, Chief Products Officer of MasterCard Worldwide.
SASSA recipients are now able to use debit cards, issued by Net1 and Grindrod Bank, to pay for goods and to check their account balances free of charge. A key feature of the card is biometric functionality used to identify grant recipients using unique identifiers such as fingerprints, facial and voice recognition to prevent stolen card usage. The new system is already dramatically reducing SASSA’s operating costs and is expected to save the government more than ZAR3 billion (USD 360 million) over the next five years.
Other examples include:
  • The United States Department of the Treasury is also moving to all electronic payments, including the Direct Express debit card, which is used to deliver Social Security and other federal benefits. The program has roughly 3 million current cardholders, and that figure could increase substantially, as Treasury eliminates check payments in March of 2013. The program is expected to save the U.S. government $1 billion over the first ten years.
  • The Italian central government launched the “Carta Acquisti” Social Card program to assist citizens in need. The cards are being distributed through Italy’s 14,000 Post Offices, targeting 1 million benefits recipients.
  • Following the successful Italian model, in Romania, the Poste Romania also began distributing prepaid cards across the country to social benefit recipients.
  • The Toronto Employment and Social Services (TESS) recently launched prepaid benefits cards for the delivery of social assistance disbursements. The card allows recipients to receive benefits through an EMV chip-and-pin prepaid MasterCard and is expected save the city $2.4 million annually.
  • To ensure safe and timely disbursement of funds and to prevent fraud, in the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Labour requires agencies that arrange laborers for large contractors to transfer their wages electronically via MasterCard prepaid cards through the Wages Protection System.
Many more innovative payment solutions are in development to support inclusion of the financially underserved including in Mexico where a pilot is underway for the residents of Oaxaca to access a variety of financial instruments through their mobile phone’s SMS functionalities.
About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a global payments and technology company. It operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the conversation on The Cashless Conversations Blog and subscribe for the latest news.

Mostly Cloudy: Google Revamps Mobile-Payment System

ePaymentNewsNFC Mobile Payment

Google Revamps Mobile-Payment System

Wall Street Journal
It relies on a technology called near-field communication, or NFC, which allows for the transfer of cardholder information from a consumer's phone to a retailer's payment terminal. For the system to work, both a consumer's phone and the merchant's ...


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Google Revamps Pay-By-Phone Service
Fox Business
Google Revamps Pay-By-Phone Service. Published August 01, 2012. Dow Jones Newswires. Google Inc. (GOOG) unveiled changes to its mobile-payment system Wednesday in a bid to get the upper hand in the battle for control of consumers' "digital wallets.

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Google Wallet App Takes Cloud Approach To Support All Cards



Hot Hardware
Google Wallet hasn't exactly taken over the mobile payment space. In fact, we'd argue that startups like Square are doing a better job of infiltrating the small biz market and grabbing mind share all the while. Why, you ask? Because Wallet was limited from the ...
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Google Wallet accepts both debit and credit cards
Technology Bloom News
Google Wallet will now allow users to add any credit or debit card they own to the mobile payment application. The announcement came from a blog post on the Google Commerce blog and it says that users simply have to input the credit card information into ...
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Technology Bloom News
Google Wallet Now Works With Multiple Credit Cards
New York Times (blog)
Square's Mobile Payment App Gets New Name and Look · With New Hardware, Square Begins Taxi Rollout · Considering a Successor for the TVs in New York Taxicabs · Vulnerability in Google Wallet Leaves Funds Wide Open. Previous Post Today's ...
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You Can Now Use Any Credit or Debit Card with Google Wallet
Complex.com (blog)
Google today released a new version of its Google Wallet mobile payment platform that allows users to pay for goods with any of their credit or debit cards, the search giant announced today. When introduced in May 2011, Google Wallet allowed MasterCard ...
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Google beefs up Wallet security, opens to any credit or debit card
GigaOM
Google added a much-needed feature to its mobile payment product Google Wallet on Wednesday: users can now use it to charge something to any credit or debit card they own. In addition, Google has beefed up payment security by storing card information ...
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GigaOM
Google Wallet Now Supports All Major Credit, Debit Cards
InformationWeek
Apparently Google was working hand-in-hand with PayPal to create a mobile payment system, but according to the suit (read an online copy courtesy of TechCrunch) Google backed out at the last minute and recruited the former employees instead. Another ...
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Google Wallet is reborn with support for all major credit cards
VentureBeat
One, clearly, is that of adoption: As Google knows, it's tough to get mobile users interested in a mobile payment system that only supports a single credit card, as Google Wallet did previously. Two, Google is also trying hard to bridge the gap between ...
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Google expands Wallet payment platform
V3.co.uk
The company said that the expansion would give the mobile payment platform support for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards. Additionally,the company is integrated with some 25 retail chains. Launched in the Fall of 2011, the Google ...
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V3.co.uk
Digital Money, Mobile Wallets and Latin America
Huffington Post (blog)
In Latin America, to date we've seen the arrival of initiatives to improve mobile payment transactions and incorporate unbanked users such as Transfer in Mexico (Telmex with Citi/Banamex and Inbursa) and Wanda (MasterCard and Telefonica) in Argentina, ...
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Your Smartphone as Your Wallet: 3 Companies That Will Cash In
DailyFinance
But mobile-payment upstart Square already processes $6 billion worth of transactions a year. Online-payment giants like eBay's (EBAY) Paypal and Google's (GOOG) Wallet are also seeing impressive growth. Credit card companies Visa (V), MasterCard (MA) ...
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Google Wallet opens up to all credit, debit cards
Know Your Cell
Google Wallet just became a lot more useful, as Google has turned the mobile payment system into a cloud-based service that supports all major credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. If you don't know, Google Wallet ...
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Amazing: Google Wallet Now Supports Any Credit or Debit Card; New Security ...
TechnoBuffalo
Google announced on Wednesday that its Google Wallet mobile payment app — largely supported by Sprint in the United States — now supports any credit or debit card. I usually refill my Google prepaid card for purchases, but this update is amazing for me ...
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Google Wallet Uses The Cloud To Support All Credit Cards
Fast Company
On Wednesday, Google announced the latest version of its NFC-enabled mobile payment platform would support all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. To accomplish this flexibility, Google changed the way it ...
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Amid the Nexus 7 tablet success, Google elevates Wallet service
PopHerald.com
With a revised Google Wallet and a successful tablet, the Nexus 7, it is safe to say that more businesses will take advantage of the mobile payment system, and soon — mass adoption? Tweet. | This news article is posted under Tags: Google Wallet, Nexus 7. | ...
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Google Wallet moves to the cloud, opens up to all credit and debit cards
Engadget
Today that finally changes with the latest version of Big G's mobile payment system. Now you'll be able to use any credit or debit card you wish, and take them with you from one device to the next. Early versions of the digital wallet used the phones secure ...
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Google Wallet 2.0: The easy way to pay with NFC?
NFC World
When a user conducts a mobile payment, this prepaid card draws on a credit or debit card which the user has previously linked to the card account to fund the purchase. "Since we released the first version of Google Wallet, the app that makes your phone your ...
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Google Wallet now accepts all major credit cards, debit cards
AndroidGuys
Users will be able to remotely disable their mobile wallet app from the web, adding even more peace of mind for the mobile payment option. Of course, the Google Wallet app still uses a password and Google always suggests using a PIN or lock screen on ...
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Gas pump-makers on board with Isis
Mobile Payments Today
The sign at the gas pump may warn you not to use your cellphone lest it spark a hellish conflagration, but Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and AT&T Mobility, will be encouraging that behavior soon — at least as ...
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The Daily Start-Up: Deutsche Telekom Backs LevelUp, Start-Up With 0% Card ...
Wall Street Journal (blog)
dailystartup_D_20090806101628.jpg Art by Mike Lucas. Deutsche Telekom's venture arm T-Venture is investing in new mobile payment player LevelUp, VentureWire has learned. The $9 million infusion comes as the Boston-based start-up completes its third ...
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Wall Street Journal (blog)
Rebooted Google Wallet now accepts any credit card
Mobile Payments Today
News. Gas pump-makers on board with Isis · Cashless Olympics score low at Wembley stadium · New mobile payment SDK announced by ROAM Data · » View More News. Blogs. Checking in on mobile banking · Triangulation: the three-legged stool of ...
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Google Wallet Goes Cloud, Supports Multiple Credit and Debit Cards [VIDEO]
IBTimes.co.uk
Google Wallet, a popular mobile payment system, has been a handy app that turns the phone into a wallet allowing users to pay for goods through the device. Google has released a new Cloud-based version of Wallet that supports all major credit and debit ...
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Social Mobile Payments: Americas, November 6 – 8 – Miami, FL
Ubergizmo
Social Mobile Payment's Global Appeal: Your input, viewpoint and experience will enhance and fuel solutions that will propel all participants to new heights. The Americas event will concentrate on the simultaneous rise of the three individual aspects; social, ...
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Ubergizmo
Google Wallet now works with all major debit and credit cards
ByteNow
Many devices and carries still struggle with Google Wallet availability, but one of mobile payment's biggest concerns has finally been answered. Now, if only Apple will tell us the real truth for the use of Passbook. We may have some mobile payment ...
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ByteNow
Google Wallet Now Available For All Major Credit Cards
The Inquisitr
My favorite mobile payment platform? The often used Starbucks app on my iPhone 4. Category: Mobile Tags : american express, Discover Card, google, google wallet, Mastercard, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Payments, Visa Posted: August 1, 2012 ...
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The Inquisitr
CreditCall, EMV Academy teams on US EMV migration
Contactless News
The new Chip and PIN-based mobile payment technology offers firms a speedy, secure, and cost effective way to complete financial transactions via smart phones and tablets, boosting cash flow for business both large and small. [end]. Related Articles ...
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Mobile Payments: Can Banks Seize the Moment to Transform Consumer Finance?
Banktech (blog)
... from the 2012 Consumer Payments Survey," IDC Financial Insights found that mobile payments have more than doubled in popularity in the past year, with more than 33 percent of survey respondents reporting that they have made a mobile payment.
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Google Wallet now works with any and all cards
Geek
... next vacation? Not quite yet, but Google is making that more and more possible with updates like this to Google Wallet. Read more about Google Wallet on the Google Commerce Blog. Tags: Android, credit cards, Google, mobile payment, nfc, update, wallet ...
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NFC Hack - Blame the Crap Apps, Says NFC Forum


ePaymentNews "Near Field Communications"
Blame crap apps for pay-by-bonk hacks, say NFC bods
Register
The Near Field Communications (NFC) Forum has defended its short-range radio tech, and blamed insecure apps that use the pay-by-tap tech for the security vulnerabilities revealed at the Black Hat conference last week. Charlie Miller, best known for his ...
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Debbie Arnold, director of the NFC Forum, told NFC World.
However, the NFC Forum works to ensure that tools are available to allow applications to operate with the appropriate level of security. These tools include: (a) Signature RTD (NDEF Signing), a specification the NFC Forum has released to digitally sign messages transmitted between devices and tags; (b) ISO/IEC 13157, a data link security standard to complement higher-layer security, originally developed by the standardization body Ecma International; (c) application security (end-to-end encryption) defined by the service provider; and (d) additional security layers in service providers' respective back-end systems.

All of these activities and mechanisms work hand-in-hand. NFC solution providers may add security measures to their applications as they see fit, including both required and optional user actions to enable or disable functions.
Miller's demonstration underscores the importance of providing appropriate security measures at the application layer and enabling users to adjust security settings to suit their own needs and preferences.
Google Wallet finally gets real, expands to all major U.S. credit providers
BetaNews
Google on Wednesday afternoon made a huge announcement for its near field communications (NFC)-powered Google Wallet platform. Beginning August first, with an update to the Google Wallet app, Android phone users with supported NFC devices such ...
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First Data TSM offering qualified by Discover
Finextra
This qualification enables First Data to support financial institutions in the deployment of their Near Field Communications (NFC) services on mobile devices. NFC is a wireless technology that enables data transmission between two objects when placed ...
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NFC attack worries - 'Dont stand so close to me'?


ePaymentNewsNFC Mobile Payment
NFC attack worries - 'Dont stand so close to me'?

All About Symbian
But with NFC now built into several Symbian models and starting to arrive on Windows Phone (plus a handful of Android devices too), it's definitely worth stopping to think for a moment about any security implications in terms of mobile vulnerabilities ...
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New Zealanders not that into mobile payments says MasterCard
Geekzone
According to the results of the latest MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index (MPRI), there is strong willingness amongst Kiwis to adopt mobile payment methods with New Zealand ranked 17th out of 34 countries surveyed. However, familiarity with ...
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A tipping point for NFC

WebNFC Mobile Payment
Is NFC a Necessity For Processing Mobile Payments
NFC, or near field communication was developed in 2004 and has become a popular topic of conversation when discussing the.
www.wooxie.com/.../is-nfc-a-necessity-for-processing-mobile-...




A tipping point for NFC


2011 was a watershed year for NFC payments. Major technology infrastructure standards were finalized, many mobile network operators committed to the ...
upstart.bizjournals.com/news/.../a-tipping-point-for-nfc.html?...
NFC mobile payment market set to boom | Computer Futures
NFC technology will help to enhance the popularity of mobile devices on a global scale. .
www.computerfutures.com/.../nfc-mobile-payment-market-set...
Vivotech to Cease Operations? | NFC Mobile Payment Industry News
NFC Mobile Payment Industry News ... U.S.-based contactless reader and NFC software company Vivotech has informed employees of an impending shutdown, ...
epaymentnews.blogspot.com/.../vivotech-to-cease-operations.h...
Mobile Payments Push NFC Technology Forward | RFID-BLOG
You may have imagine recording a video on a smartphone and viewing the clip seconds later on a television by simply touching the phone to the screen. Now ...
www.rfid-blog.com/?p=475
MicroSD Vendor Announces Taiwanese M-Payment ... - NFC Times
While awareness of NFC mobile payments is fairly strong, only a little more than one in 10 respondents to a recent survey by UK-based market research firm ...
nfctimes.com/.../microsd-vendor-announces-taiwanese-m-pay...
NFC hardware vendor ViVOtech selling off reader business - GigaOM
UPDATED: NFC payments, that revolution that hasn't seemed to materialize as ... which includes mobile wallets services and its trusted service manager unit.
gigaom.com/.../nfc-hardware-vendor-vivotech-reportedly-calli...
2 Reasons Apple Will Disrupt Mobile Payments (AAPL, EBAY)
What else could an NFC-enabled iPhone do? Process payments, of course. Apple mobile wallet: just a question of "when"? Add to the mix the fact that ...
www.fool.com/.../2-reasons-apple-will-disrupt-mobile-paymen...
NFC stickers introduced in Germany to fill void in mobile commerce ...
The sticker makes use of NFC technology and is designed to be used with smart phones and other mobile devices to turn them into payment platforms. Using the ...
mobile-financial.com/.../nfc-stickers-introduced-germany-fill-...



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