Isis is released, Cartes is upon us...

I wonder how many of you are reading this on a mobile device while on your way to Cartes in Paris? If so - join the club. This year's Cartes promises to be one which, judging by the number of requests we have had for coverage from various companies, promises to be dominated by mobile wallets, NFC-based retail experiences, and mobile point-of-sale developments. I have to be honest - I am looking forward to hearing about all of them.

Talking about mobile wallets, last week saw the US nationwide release of the Isis wallet (at long last). It's been a while in coming but finally it has seen its general release. Although saying that, it would be remiss of me if I didn't point out that as far I can determine, there have been no reports of further retail outlet acceptance (beyond those original accepts) or of new issuers, but let's give them time. I suspect that the real launch will not be until 2014. 

Just in time for CARTES, the OSPT Alliance have issued  their secure access module specification for CIPURSE™ V2, the Key Management document, and the  description of the most common SAM Use Cases have been finalized and are available for download by Alliance members and evaluators. The release of the specification marks an important milestone in enabling the development of CIPURSE-based security modules and CIPURSE-compliant contactless reader terminals.  

“We are pleased to release the SAM specification and other documentation to the international transport ticketing ecosystem,” said Laurent Cremer, executive director of the OSPT Alliance. “Members of the OSPT Alliance have contributed greatly to evolving the specification over time and the SAM Working Group has done a tremendous job in coordinating reviews and delivering the document.”  Designed as a layered, modular architecture with application-specific profiles, the open and secure CIPURSE V2 standard comprises a single, consistent set of specifications for all security, personalization, administration and life-cycle management functions needed to create a broad range of interoperable transit applications-from inexpensive single-ride or daily paper tickets to rechargeable fixed-count or weekly plastic tickets to longer-term smart card or smart phone-based commuter tickets that can also support loyalty and other applications.

No doubt at Cartes this year we will also be hearing about NFC versus Blutooth Low Energy (BLE). Wooshping's Rupert Englander put out a nice blog a few weeks ago that I caught last week titled, ""BLE Vs NFC"? - It's not about the technology, but about the philosophy". It is worth a read, especially as one of the longest discussions I have seen on LinkedIn's Near field Communications group appears to centre around this very subject. I expect to get buttonholed on the topic this week as I meander through the aisles of the show.

As you may expect, this is a short editorial this week. Well, we have to get ready for Cartes, too! If you see us, say hello and if you have something interesting to show us, don't be shy. I look forward to meeting and greeting all our readers on the show floor this week.

Until next week (when normal service will be resumed!).

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

What did we learn from CARTES?

In a nutshell? How to hedge one's bets… 

A few years ago, when walking the aisles of Cartes, all one could hear was NFC, NFC, NFC. Nothing would happen if it didn't involve NFC. This was to be the one and only powerhouse technology, the one that would fuel a payments revolution. And other things. This year though, there was a different feeling out amongst the booths on the show floor: acquiescence. By that I mean that, although companies were still talking NFC, there was also talk about QR codes, secure QR codes, Bluetooth Low Energy, iBeacons, audio - you name it. If it carries information - it was part of the movement. 

Has the industry been forced to recognise the fact that not one particular technology is going to take top trumps over the other?  That perhaps it isn't even technology that matters at all, but the customer experience of shopping and paying by either card or mobile? With whatever technology suits them, or more importantly, whatever application makes the experience as simple and easy as possible. After all, no-one cares what's under the hood. Could it be that simple? 

I lost count of the number of mobile wallet demonstrations that I was shown (some good, some absolutely diabolical) that involved a selection of technologies doing different jobs in the process, or giving the customer choice of operation. It was a far cry from previous years. Probably a good thing, too. Hopefully our industry is waking up to the fact that there is never going to be one overriding solution for customer/retailer interaction. Trust me - that's the way it is.

I also take my hat off to the OSPT Alliance and their coup of attracting Deutsche Telekom to their cause. Quite a coup, and we at Contactless Intelligence think we may know who specifically was responsible for that. In the spirit of impartiality no names or companies will be mentioned but it was quite a feat and the whole Alliance is probably thanking you, so -  Well done! You can read more about it here.

In fact, CIPURSE really seems to be on a roll at the moment. That's why we covered three stories in the news section below. The world’s first contactless smart cards compliant with the CIPURSE open security standard are now being used in different projects in Brazil for services such as taxi rides or use health care. Manufactured by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), these cards are based on a CIPURSE-compatible contactless security controller from Infineon Technologies. The Infineon security controller used is the only worldwide solution to support both the open CIPURSE standard as well as existing Mifare Classic-compatible systems, enabling a smooth migration to CIPURSE systems. Brazil is one of the most dynamic growth markets in Latin America and was the guest of honour country at the centre of this year’s CARTES 2013.

CIPURSE certainly seems to have a rosy future - ABI Research appears to think so. ABI Research’s CIPURSE Ecosystem report took a closer look at CIPURSE as a specification and product range, focusing on product positioning and vendor strategies. These findings are part of ABI Research’s Transportation Ticketing Technologies Research Service, now available. Their report says, "The CIPURSE specification is now more comparable with other competing industry protocols. On the release of its V2 specification, additional products were made available for development, providing a wider range of choice and a migration path from lower to higher-end and mobile solutions. There seem to be several product positioning strategies being adopted, whether it’s targeting the protocol towards green field opportunities or providing an alternative solution to allow migration from an existing protocol to CIPURSE. Which strategy wins out remains to be seen and timing could play a critical role in the success rate of CIPURSE". Research analyst Phil Sealy comments, “Additional products need adding to the certified product list, with some expected to be announced before the year is out ABI Research anticipates the release of the first CIPURSE certified smart card. There are transport authorities waiting on the complete solution to enable adoption, but they will not wait forever. If too much time is taken in the creation of additional CIPURSE products, those waiting may have their hands forced and have no other option, but to adopt a different protocol.”

Finally, this week I was hoping to speak a little more about Isis mobile wallet, especially after the national US rollout release. Unfortunately the spokesperson for the wallet had to cancel their meeting with me after their flight from New York was delayed, and with no irony detectable, informed me that they would be arriving but could not tell me when but assured me that they had a lot of information and good news to tell me when they would finally get to the show. Seriously - I really believe that the irony of their message was lost on them!

We are now into the final countdown of the last few weeks of the year and next week I am hoping to expand upon our speakers and conference agenda for the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference and the Contactless and Mobile Awards (this year introducing yet another new category!). I promise you - you will like it!

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

1 in 10 have an NFC phone. Is this good news?

We are entering the news slump that inevitably follows the week after CARTES, but this year year it has been exacerbated by the arrival of Thanksgiving as well. In other words - it was fairly quiet last week. Thanksgiving rolled around, as it does every year, but to be honest, the days that follow are what I find to be more interesting; 'Black Friday' and the newly christened 'Cyber Monday'. On the Thursday, Americans give thanks but on Friday and Monday, we are all expected to spend like there was no tomorrow. A boom for online payments - certainly. For mobile payments - who knows? 

We should be seeing more mobile payments out there, though. If you read the incessant reports that tell us just how big the market is going to be for mobile payments, it's easy to get carried away. A new market research report from Allied Market Research titled “Mobile Wallet Market (Applications, Mode of Payment, Stakeholders and Geography) – Global Share, Size, Industry Analysis, Trends, Opportunities, Growth and Forecast, 2012 – 2020″, was released last week. As per the market study, the global mobile wallet market is expected to reach $5,250 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 127.5% from 2013 to 2020. There will continue to be growing awareness regarding mobile wallets and their applications, rising Smartphone penetration and increasing security that will drive the mobile wallet market. Mobile commerce is expected to be the leading segment until 2020, followed by mobile ticketing and mobile money transfer.

Wonderful stuff! If only I believed it. 

Don't get me wrong. Mobile payments WILL happen as NFC handsets become more ubiquitous and their owners become more educated about how to use the NFC features on them. Mobile campaigns will help a lot here - if they are done right. This theme is further expanded on below in the guest editorial from Rupert Englander, titled 'Going mobile - seven deadly sins any business must avoid' (it has a cool graphic with it, too!) In fact a recent Deloitte  'Global Mobile Consumer Survey' said that the number of consumers with an NFC phone has doubled since 2012. The report also gives out such interesting facts as; 10% of the 37,600 consumers surveyed (covering 20 countries) know they have an NFC enabled mobile. 62% say they do not and 28% do not know either way. Of the 10% that know they have an NFC enabled mobile, 34% said they have used it within the last month but 62% say they have never used NFC at all. Breaking it down on a really rough macro level; 1 in 10 smartphone owners have the ability to participate in NFC oriented activities. I know that some of you will point out that a few years ago no-one had an NFC phone and so we should be clapping each other on the back, but to be honest I think the numbers still suck. But then again, I am happy to know what our readers think.

Actually, while we're at it, here's another article that fits in well with my last paragraph.

I now want to turn my attention to the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference. Our agenda is shaping up nicely with us looking forward to hearing from a number of speakers and panelists coming from a variety of companies including; The UK Post Office, Transport for London, the UK Cards Association, The GSMA, Boots, Association of Convenience Stores, Association of Town Centre Management, Samsung Semiconductor, Heidi.com, Google, PayPal, Which? magazine, VeriFone, Grassfish, Telefónica Digital, British Retail Consortium, to name but a few. You can look at the full agenda by visiting the conference site. 

Oh, we also have another CMA category - brand new for 2014 its called 'Retail' and this one looks beyond just mobile payments. The retail industry is the front line for all consumer oriented technology innovation. In this category, we are rewarding retailers that embrace technology to improve the customer experience. From digital signage to virtual storefronts to smart mobile payment systems; in the retail category, the judges are looking for forward looking, integrated solutions that take shopping to the next level. You can check out the categories here, and remember - entry is free!

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Who's aware of NFC? Just 35% of UK adults, apparently…

My last editorial concerned itself with the lack of NFC-enabled handsets, despite a growth in the number of those handsets released that could actually handle NFC-based applications. I have a few responses to that editorial that claimed I was being unduly harsh on the industry. Perhaps those commentators are correct but I would like to draw attention to a report that came out last week that sends another shot across the bows of NFC mobile payment supporters.

YouGov’s “The Future of Mobile Digital and Contactless Payments” report provides estimates of awareness and usage of digital payment methods. The report shows that just over a third (35%) of UK adults are aware of NFC-enabled mobile devices, a figure that has barely increased since YouGov last looked into the area in September 2012. The latest findings also show that fewer than one in ten (9%) mobile and smartphone owners know that their device is NFC-enabled and of these, just over a fifth (22%) ever use it to make payments. 

“More than half of mobile phone owner that are not interested in NFC-enabled technology (56%) do not believe that the technology is safe to use,” YouGov reveals. Underscoring the persistent mobile security concerns of our time, 53% fear “financial exposure” in the event that their phone is lost or stolen. 

“Despite the advances in NFC mobile technology, the industry has yet to increase the awareness nor put forth a compelling value proposition to the consumer to adopt NFC payments,” says John Gilbert, Consulting Director of YouGov Technology & Telecoms. “In addition, retail adoption is rather limited curbing the consumers’ desire to transition.”

That is an interesting concept, saying that retail is the industry sector putting the brakes on adoption. Despite contactless payment cards being more limited with only four in ten (40%) owners ever using their contactless card, the one key drawback to more usage is that it has yet to be universally adopted by retailers. Six in ten users (62%) want more places that accept contactless card payments. It will be interesting to see how the phasing in of contactless payments on public transportation (as in the case of TfL) will help increase the number of those using their contactless cards for payment. I feel that the number will be far greater than four in ten when the report is released for 2014, next year.

Those who are interested in research such as this, and what it means for the market as a whole, may be interested in knowing that we have a couple of industry groups that will be releasing their findings on consolidating messaging, and approach for various industry sectors when it comes to contactless and mobile technology at the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference next year. We will be taking a very detailed look at the roll out of contactless payments for the London public transportation network as a whole, as well as having retail specialists and industry retail groups (including companies participating in the Retail of Tomorrow Consortium, GS1 and the British Retail Consortium) revealing their findings and plans for inclusion of contactless and mobile applications aimed specifically at the retail industry across Europe in 2014. You can see a video that looks towards the idea of 'Mastering the digital in-store upgrade challenge' in the video we made at CARTES this year either by clicking the piece below or if you can't wait - just click here.

Not to be outdone, those players in the OSPT Alliance demonstrate (on camera) the multi-application possibilities that their CIPURSE standard can bring to mobile payment, ticketing and loyalty applications. You can, one again, either drop to the box below or click here.

Finally, first blood (?) is drawn by Wooshping in our advent-orientated stories. They have worked with Nokia to release a 'Appvent Calendar'. How many more advent-related puns will we be reporting on in the next few weeks, I wonder? Next week will be our last news review for 2013 and so we are looking to end the year with some poignant or seasonal-themed stories. If you wish to put something forward for us to cover and draw attention to, for our end of year edition next week, click here and let us know.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Merry Christmas and a Contactless New Year!

This is my last editorial for Contactless Intelligence in 2013. I could write one on the final week of 2013, but to be honest - I'm not sure anyone will read it. After all, we are all be looking forward to a well-deserved break and spending time with family, friends and loved ones. When I say well deserved - I mean it. While some of the changes that have affected the industry this year may not have been overtly dramatic - they have been pervasive in changing the field of contactless and NFC.

For me, 2013 will have been the year when NFC finally broke away from the payment module singularity and went mainstream. Looking back to the beginning of the year, when it came to NFC, this was very much in evidence during January's CES: Albeit not so much on show in its payment form but in its ability to pair up with other NFC enabled devices. An NFC-enabled mobile will remain the key to a connected future but if some of the consumer white goods manufacturers at CES have their way, a connected future may be inside your own home. Everything from washing machines to refrigerators, from TVs to audio equipment, seemed to be NFC connected (http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1cp ). Later in the year we saw caps, bags and jewellery become NFC-enabled as well as rings and bracelets that could be used to unlock your phone, garage, or home - all courtesy of platforms such as Kickstarter and all built around NFC technology.

Another positive for me in 2013 was that of marketing campaigns embracing NFC technology as the core technology to help connect customers to brands. Companies involved in the development of such NFC-based marketing solutions have also come to the fore, either in establishing themselves or by attracting the attention of financial institutions who see a future in what they are offering. I fully expect to see a lot more use of NFC in marketing campaigns in 2014 - perhaps this will even be the year that NFC-based campaigns become the norm?

In terms of wallets, Google appears to have stumbled and lost focus while Isis continued to push out its offering. In fact everyone who was anyone this year had some kind of mobile wallet offering - branded or white label. This, in my opinion, caused more confusion than clarity but will not doubt be addressed by the market as a whole in 2014. Especially as retailers finally appear to be looking more favourably towards mobile payments than they did a year ago. Although there is still more that could be done in this area - a theme for 2014 perhaps?

For me, one of the big highlights for 2013 was the taking of contactless card on public transport in London. Although launched in December 2012, 2013 was the year that turned using a contactless card on public transport into a commodity, and a very convient one, too. And so I have to tip my hat to the likes of Barclaycard who have played a key role in educating consumers the most in terms of contactless payment throughout 2013. With contactless payment acceptance on the London tube, this is bound to proliferate education across an even wide spectrum of users. The battle for contactless card payment awareness and education is well underway - pity the same cannot be said for mobile payments...

If I was to look towards 2014, the bright spot on the horizon for me is (of course) the 2014 Contactless and Mobile Awards (sponsored by Visa). Organised by Contactless Intelligence, the 2014 awards will feature couple of new categories in 2014 including 'Contactless Payment Collaboration' and 'Retail'. We believe that 2014 will be defined by collaboration in all forms and so it is fitting that the first of our new categories is focused on such an element. More commentators are talking about the need for effective partnerships when it comes to contactless payments; be they collaborations between MNOs, banks, retailers, third parties etc. After all, we know that you can’t make the payment industry work in isolation. So in the spirit of this years Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference and its focus  of ‘Learning from Experience’, we are looking for one company that has done the most to foster collaboration between contactless payment value chain players. So who’s up for working well with others?

Retail is the other new category for 2014. The retail industry is the front line for all consumer oriented technology innovation. In this category, we are rewarding retailers that embrace technology to improve the customer experience. From digital signage to virtual storefronts to smart mobile payment systems; in the retail category, the judges are looking for forward looking, integrated solutions that take shopping to the next level. If you would like to nominate your company/partner/client for a CMA, please register your interest by 31st December 2013 (time is running out!). You will then be sent instructions on how to complete the nomination questionnaire to be submitted by 25th January 2014. All entries are free and you can enter as many categories/solutions as you like.

Well, as I said at the start, this is my end-of-year editorial for Contactless Intelligence.  I'll be honest, some weeks the editorial writes itself, some weeks it's pure blood sweat and tears (not mine). However, I do hope you feel that we have touched upon some salient points in the industry and at the very least have acted as a spring board to your week. All that remains is to wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous (and contactless!) New Year to you all

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

One wallet closes down, one director runs off stage…

First of all, a belated happy New Year to our readers and subscribers. For some reason, I feel that this year is starting on a more subdued note than previous years when it comes to contactless and NFC technology. Don't get me wrong - I think there is still a great deal to do in the industry and potential with the technology in question but somehow - the hype and urgency has dissipated a little.

I actually think this is good news for the industry because now we can get down to dealing with reality. 

And the reality is that NFC or contactless is not something that can be pigeon-holed and coerced into single applications such as payment, or transport or the like, but should be treated as an enabling technology. As such, NFC technology still has a role to play - a very important role. In fact, the good news when it comes to NFC is that it was very much in evidence at this year's CES. Albeit not so much on show in its payment form but in its ability to pair up with other NFC enabled devices. An NFC-enabled mobile will remain the key to a connected future but if some of the consumer white goods manufacturers at CES have their way, a connected future may be inside your own home. Everything from washing machines to refrigerators, fromTVs to audio equipment, seemed to be NFC connected. Well know companies such as Samsung, Panasonic, LG and Sony showed off their home-based products that included NFC-based technology. 

Even NXP got in on the act with their onsite demonstration (along with EnOcean) of a wireless smart lighting network designed for ease of installation in the home. The demo includes an energy harvesting switch developed by EnOcean, a company that develops energy harvesting wireless solutions. Using NFC technology, the EnOcean switch can be added to a home network simply by tapping an NFC-equipped mobile phone on the gateway to collect important network parameters, and then using the phone to pass them on to the switch. 

Samsung, on the other hand, despite showing a slew of NFC connected products from white in-home goods to cameras must have groaned inwardly (and outwardly) over film director Michael Bay's fiasco on stage during the introduction of their new curved TV. After losing his place on the teleprompter and then suffering from what must have been a stellar case of stage fright, he apologised and walked off stage leaving Joe Stinziano, Samsung's executive vice president to continue without him. I guess these things happen. Here's the video in case you haven't seen it. I feel sorry for the guy but smiled when I saw some of the comments on twitter especially the variation of; 'I've often wanted to walk out of a Michael Bay production in embarrassment too. Can't blame him for seizing the opportunity.'

O2, however, announced at the end of last week that they would be closing their mobile wallet by the 31st March, after only approximately 24 months. Their message on the website reads, "When we launched the O2 Wallet 18 months ago we were one of the first mobile wallets around. Since then lots has changed for us, the market and our customers. So, we’ve decided to close the O2 Wallet to give us time to look into new and better ways to help people manage their money on the move, both in the UK and abroad."  I guess that running a mobile wallet is a lot harder than first thought and trying to make it work with a mass customer base is still hit and miss. Although one commenter on our story paraphrased the problem with the comment, "…I thought it was particularly over-complicated in it’s setup and concept, and I never received any reminders of its existence since." I wonder how many more mobile wallets we shall see passing away in 2014? Perhaps the future for NFC is more connected to the in-home experience that the high street?

I say this with a little more insight than most as the nominations for the Contactless & Mobile Awards have continued unabated over the holiday season. We have already gone past the number of entries that we had at this time last year and so we are set to have our biggest award show ever! There is still a couple of weeks to go before deadline so anyone interested in entering should do so now, by visiting the nomination page and letting us know. I really think that will be our biggest and best CMA event ever!

Don't miss it. Make a note of the date, 29th April, and get those nominations in. It's free to enter so there really should be no excuse not to.

Until next week.
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Is Apple back on the mobile payment bandwagon?

Apple filed a patent last week that might (I repeat, might) signal that the company is willing to move one step closer to incorporating a mobile wallet application within its devices. More to the point, the patent described using NFC technology (yes! NFC!) within a sales transaction that uses NFC as a secure link with a purchasing device. The device then uses a different wireless interface to complete the transaction.

Commentators in the industry were quick to point out that Apple could simply be keeping its options open and would ultimately reaffirm their support of iBeacon technology. 

I am not so sure. The key here is proximity for payment and, in certain cases, that rules out iBeacon. While iBeacon is meant for nearby location use-cases, the definition of 'nearby' is more like a 100 feet radius. That works well enough for proximity marketing but not so good for payment transactions in which the distance should be much smaller for security purposes. For such close distance data transfers, NFC would have the edge (in my opinion), as well as ensuring much greater security of said data transfer. 

Of course, all of this speculation and may well be Apple simply covering their bases, but who knows what the next iPhone generation will have on board. And as they tend to come out each year, we won't have that long to wait. If you want to read more about this topic, I can recommend the site 'Patently Apple' and their review of the patent. Bottom line, though, Apple may well have realised that the time for ignoring the idea of the mobile wallet is over and this could well be their call to action.

Talking about iBeacons and BLE, I am surprised that we have not seen more on the topic in the trade press. While I do not think that the technology deserves the same kind of coverage that, say, NFC does – I was surprised that we have not heard more. Especially from those companies involved in bringing technology into marketing and loyalty campaigns. Actually, that's not entirely true. We have heard their arguments about why these different technologies can peacefully co-exist and the benefits that each technology can bring to specific types of campaigns – that's all well and good. What I have yet to see is news concerning the actual implementation of the technology into a company's offering. 

Until last week, when I ran across two items that spoke about BLE. Germany's Wirecard AG made an announcement to the press that they had  integrated Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology under the name “Bluetooth BLE Smart Payment” into their existing Mobile Wallet platform as an additional payment technology service. Along with NFC and QR code, BLE is the third contactless payment standard to be supported by Wirecard’s mobile solutions. 

This was closely followed by Thinaire announcing that they too had  launched what they are calling ‘the first unified omni-channel mobile engagement marketing and sales solution allowing brands to engage consumers via nearly any mobile onramp to bring media, objects and spaces to life on consumers’ most personal devices – their smartphones, tablets and connected devices’ (anyone else beg to differ?). Thinaire’s enterprise-grade Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) solution, Thinaire® Spaces, is 'the integration of BLE and NFC technologies for consumer-facing brand marketing and commerce on mobile'. Good for them, but I doubt if they will be the only players in the field that can make such a claim for much longer with so much competition out there.

Which brings me very cleverly onto my final subject for the editorial - the Contactless & Mobile Awards. In case you didn't know - time is fast approaching for the nomination deadline; specifically the end of this week. Now, don't panic - you still have time to drop us an email and let us know if you are interested in nominating either your own company or someone else's and into which categories you would like to be nominated. You do so by following this link, filling in the blanks and pressing 'send' - so easy! And entry is still free of charge! So what are you waiting for? After all, nothing ventured…

Until next week,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

To reiterate - NFC is not dead!

I spent some time at the Omnicard conference in Berlin this week. Settling in at the Wednesday morning NFC sessions, I was looking forward to hearing some salient facts about DACH-region projects and non-hype related movement in this field - specifically as it pertained to identification, verification and payment. I knew that there was a settling of reality that was blanketing the over-worked hype machine but I was surprised when the the question on everyone's lips at the conference was, "Is NFC dead?"

Now, don't get me wrong - there are many parties to blame for overselling the technology's arrival on the scene and it would be fair to say that the sudden NFC take-up in all its forms never actually happened. Nor is it likely to. But to announce the demise of the technology and talk as though it was a huge mistake – at everyone's expense – seems a tad premature. I would like to think that this was simply a method to get attendees excited and involved but it quickly became apparent that many of the speakers were simply going through the motions. The sense of excitement that had existed in previous years was missing. Not by all the speakers, granted, but by many.

The frustrating thing was that there was no reference to BLE (along with iBeacons) or to HCE, unless prompted, and the answer to the question "What plans does your company have concerning this technology?" was "We don't know". What has happened to the industry? Will this malaise continue - or is it just German-centric pessimism? I hope not, because this point of view has a habit of  becoming a self fulfilling prophecy.

The Irish, on the other hand, are going for broke in their use of NFC technology. Allied Irish Bank IB is promoting its new Me2U money transfer service on the biggest NFC enabled OOH (Out Of Home) campaign to date, in Ireland. The NFC element of the campaign consists of 500 Adshel 6 Sheets, 10 fully wrapped bus shelters and 55 six sheets located in cinema lobbies across the country. There's a video that accompanies this huge campaign and you can see it here. Go Irish!

Mobile payments are still attracting attention and moving slowly, but surely, towards mass acceptance. Visa Europe last week announced that 62 mobile contactless projects are now live or planned to launch across Europe. The company says it is "firmly on track to realise its prediction that 50% of Visa transactions will made be made through a mobile device by 2020". Visa Europe's CEO Nicolas Huss, when asked what Visa Europe next focus would be, answered: "…to move in pace with the rapid adoption of new technologies and, more particularly, the growth of mobile and digital commerce".  Worldpay also released a report on the mobile payment market last week saying that, "E-wallets will equal cards as the most popular payment method globally, with each predicted to have a 41% share of the overall payments market. In 2012, $295 billion was processed through e-wallet payments. This is set to rise to $1,656 billion by 2017. The value of mobile transactions will increase to $117 billion by 2017, from $18 billion in 2012." Perhaps the idea of mobile payment isn't quite as dead as everyone would like to think.

And in a funny burst of synchronism - two similar stories came out last week, both talking about the same thing - namely the purchase of cars using mobile payments. Or rather the use of mobile payments to make your car payments. A story out from Barclays and Toyota on their payment opportunity using the banks Pingit application and the news that Billingtree in the States has released a suite of new solutions that allow auto finance companies to expand mobile payment options to consumers.

Toyota Financial Services provides a range of finance options for new cars and Light Commercial Vehicles as well as all Toyota Approved Used vehicles. They are the first UK car manufacturer to sign up to Pingit, where it will be used in their financial services arm to offer customers a mobile payment option via Barclays Pingit. BillingTree’s mobile payment and lifecycle management solution enables customers to view and pay their bills by scanning a QR code from their smart phone and instantly access their account information and payment options. Lifecycle communications features allow auto lenders to automatically identify and execute up-sell, cross-sell and promotional marketing opportunities to online and mobile customers based on their buying behaviour.  Both solutions are supported by BillingTree’s partnership with ZNAP™, a mobile payment and business automation platform provider.

And for those of you who spoke to me about my last editorial covering Apple and their mobile payment plans (you know who you are) - here is a piece from the Wall Street Journal online that came out last Friday covering meetings that Eddy Cue, Apple's iTunes and App Store chief has had with industry executives to discuss Apple's interest in handling payments for physical goods and services on its devices (according to people familiar with the situation). Could we be seeing more movement for Apple in the mobile payment sector soon?

So there you have it for last week. Despite a fairly pessimistic approach in Germany, there is also upbeat news from Ireland, and support (no surprise) for mobile payments from Visa Europe. Oh, and if the financial service divisions of car manufacturers get their act together - we could all be making our monthly car payments via our mobiles!

Finally, a big thank you and show of support for three more sponsors of the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference and the Contactless & Mobile Awards. Infineon, NXP and Samsung are now supporting the event, with Samsung also sponsoring the CMA category 'Eco-system'. We have a number of entries into this category and look forward to seeing Samsung present the award to one of the luck winners on stage on the 29th April. The nominations are now closed (unless Karen says otherwise!) and so begins the chore of getting your paperwork filled out and sent over for the judges. Best of luck to all involved!

Until next week,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

A very clever strategy – 20 years of MIFARE!

For those who have been residing on the moon for the last month - Apple is celebrating 30 years of the Mac this year. They are keen to demonstrate just how they have taken technology away from the few and delivered it into the hands of the many. That way you are able to unleash your inner creativity. Good idea. A way to remind us that they have longevity, have been on the cutting edge of technology for a long time, are ubiquitous with their products and still continue to innovate. It's a smart move. 

The first Apple Mac was introduced to an unsuspecting population with the famous advert involving a mute gathering staring at a giant screen - unlike today, where a mute population stare at their tiny smart phone screens. But in celebrating the history of one of their products they are not alone this year.

Ticking all the boxes; innovation, product range, ubiquitous in applications and showing longevity – is MIFARE from NXP. This product range is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and NXP are keen to remind you of it - and what the products can do. It's a smart move for them. Let's be honest - how many of you reading this editorial, who are in the marketing department of a semiconductor company, would reason away this anniversary because it would be talking about something 'old' that has 'been out there for 20 years'? Not NXP - they're smarter than that and it's a clever way to demonstrate the inroads they have made into various application markets over the last two decades. 

In fact, building on from 20 years - how about 20 million people? That's the estimated number of commuters in Sri Lanka that will  be using contactless payments and transport ticketing powered by NXP’s MIFARE DESFire technology. The initial trial began on June 6, 2013 in the country’s capital of Colombo, and since January 2014 has been extended to full deployment with multiple routes and busses in Colombo. The system will be rolled out nationwide in Sri Lanka in the course of 2014. MIFARE continues to remain relevant.

We also caught the news that Argos – a UK retailer – are embracing NFC technology thanks to Proxama. To be honest, I have not lived in the UK for a couple of decades and remember the Argos store as the home of the 'giant laminated book of dreams' (as a comedian once described them). In fact - it should come as no surprise that they are on-line too and embracing any technology that helps with their customer shopping experience – they did start off with a laminated catalogue after all (a very modern approach in its day). If you are not from the UK and have no idea what i am talking about - why not attend the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference (and the Contactless and Mobile Awards) and while you are in London - pop into Argos for the 'experience'? I am sure some of our UK attendees would love to accompany you…

In 40 of their stores stores throughout the UK, customers can tap their NFC-enabled smartphones to engage with store staff who are wearing NFC-enabled lanyards recommending the latest offers. Customers will also be able to tap in-store cards to download the Argos mobile app to make purchases on the go. “By using NFC we hope to encourage app downloads, increase mobile sales and improve our multi-channel customer experience. This pilot is also part of our initiative to reduce the printing and distribution costs associated with our catalogue,” commented Dominic Pemberton, Head of Publications and New Media, Argos. Good for them - I hope it is a success.

The time is now up for nominations for the 2014 Contactless & Mobile Awards. Those of you who have sent in nominations now need to get your paperwork finished and sent in. We shall be announcing the finalists in about a month from now so please look out for the announcement on Contactless Intelligence and in the on-line in the press. we have had a record number of nominations this year so we are looking forward to having some very high impact finalists. The Award show will take place in London on the 29th April and you can register to attend the event here. We look forward to seeing you pick up an award!

Finally - we are at the ISE 2014 in Amsterdam on Wednesday this week with Contactless Intelligence and our new Endless Shelf Platform, so if you are there and would like to speak to us - please let us know.

Until next week,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Will Weve and MasterCard kickstart contactless mobile payments? 

Last week it became obvious that Weve and MasterCard have set themselves up in a position to act as a 'white knight', leading the charge to mass acceptance of mobile payments. If you are from either Weve or MasterCard and are reading this - please don't think that I am somehow making fun of you or being 'sneery' in one form or another. I'm not. Trust me. In actual fact - I applaud you.

For those of you who are not familiar with the story; both parties are getting together to 'accelerate the development of the UK’s most comprehensive contactless mobile payments system'. Under the terms of their agreement, MasterCard will continue to provide technology and integration services to banks and financial institutions wishing to take advantage of Weve’s payments platform, accelerating their ability to offer customers safe, simple and smart contactless mobile payments. 

Weve will probably hope to bypass some of the obstacles that have slowed progress in this space by using a single platform across three of the four largest UK mobile networks. With a 220% growth in the number of contactless transactions in Europe, there is massive scope for innovation in mobile payments – from location-based initiatives to point-of-sale engagement. The partnership between Weve and MasterCard will (in their own words) "create the most ubiquitous platform for contactless mobile payments in the UK, which will enable innovation to evolve and thrive as the parties work together in future". Collaboration may be the key in kickstarting the recent sluggish mobile payment market. Some entities around Europe are even starting to give up. 

Recent news from Bulgaria indicate that SEP Bulgaria (a consortium of companies working on the development of a unified national system for electronic payments based on a combination of mobile telephones and GPRS point-of-sale terminals) has forfeited its license as payment system operator, says the Bulgarian National Bank. SEP Bulgaria offered a complete mobile payment solution for the Bulgarian market a few years ago but say that they have not received sufficient support by the banks, most of which wanted to develop their own products for this sort of payments. Well, collaborations don't always work.

Occasionally you have to go out on your own and create something new - as Powa Technologies are doing with their new payment system called PowaTag. This system will, in their words; "…transform consumer shopping behaviour by eliminating the wait between impulse and purchase. PowaTag can be online, in print or even embedded by an audio tag. By pointing at a poster, magazine ad or an online video – or simply by capturing an audio tone – a consumer can buy a product or get it delivered to their door in a single tap. PowaTag is a one tap checkout on the go.” That's all we have to go on because they are not saying much more. The product will be unveiled this month and while it may sound a little flakey with what we know - those in the know are impressed. To the tune of about $96.7 million to be precise. So there must be something that investors are seeing that they like. I am guessing the unveiling will be at MWC - but we shall have to wait and see.

Is collaboration the key to success or do you have to go it alone?Opinions are mixed on this but most people can agree that experience is key. Collaboration and sharing experiences are the key themes at this years CISC and we have not only a great line up of industry speakers (we are even talking to Powa Technologies about them speaking on their mysterious PowaTag) but we are bringing in new implementer as well. Companies such as Grassfish, a leading European provider of digital signage software for the new line of unattended point of sale systems (way beyond just fizzy drinks - think entire IT stationary cupboards) with interactive digital displays with POS systems for cards and phones (trust me - this is REALLY the wave of the future). They were one of the companies we spent time with at ISE in Amsterdam last week and they demonstrated their latest products and solutions. They will talking about their implementations in retail outlets and in-house company premises at CISC on the 29th April. This is a great example of collaboration of companies and different technologies coming together to make some inspiring solutions.

The next few weeks will see the run up to the MWC - I really don't know what to expect this year in terms of NFC but if any of our readers wish to speak to us in advance (under embargo, of course) let us know so we can create the maximum coverage for you.

Until next week,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

In tech we trust but not in banks?

I read a very interesting article by freelance journalist Edie Lush last week. The piece, titled 'A world without banks: why Barclays and co should be afraid', makes the point that, according the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, banks and financial institutions are the least trusted global institutions while technology companies are the most trusted. The point is this: Is it crazy to think that for some customers the idea of a tech company, such as Apple or Google, managing their digital wallet makes more sense and is more reassuring than, say, a regular bank?

It's a scenario that, if we are honest, many of us in the industry have probably raised in hushed tones at least once in the past few years as the march towards mass acceptance and usage of the mobile wallet has got underway. I think the big card companies realise this. MasterCard now describes itself as a technology company in the global payments industry more than a financial services company. Ditto for Visa Europe, who are a payments technology business these days. I'm not knocking these companies - just pointing out that the term 'technology' now inspires more confidence than the term 'banking'. So it leads onto the question – should banks be sidelined in the whole mobile wallet rollout, if a more customer positive attitude can be gained from having MNOs or technology companies take the lead'? Just some food for thought.

In fact, another 'technology' company - this time an MNO - stepped into the limelight last week with the launch of their NFC mobile payment service, launching in Strasbourg and Caen. I'm talking, of course, about Orange. In conjunction with Visa Europe the commercial launch of Orange Cash was launched in both cities. The reasoning being that these two cities had the highest use of contactless payments in France. With the launch, Orange becomes the first mobile network operator in France to offer mobile contactless payments to its customers.

The Orange Cash application acts as a ‘mobile purse’, taking the form of a Visa prepaid card on a phone. In order to take full advantage of the Visa contactless payment solution, Orange customers who have an NFC smartphone compatible with Orange Cash will have to go into an Orange store. Once the app has been downloaded, users can activate the service – regardless of their bank.

And to continue in my very tenuous banking/technology vein - banks are know for their physical security, but NXP have demonstrated how the humble lock can become a super secure NFC-enabled one (I warned you that the link was tenuous… ). NXP's Smart Home Access vision is to bring existing mechanical locking systems to the next level enabling smart life solutions. Today, smart card based access systems are in use by many enterprises, governmental institutions, hotels and campuses worldwide. In a joint effort, partners of NXP have transformed these solutions into optimized offerings for private homes, where mechanical keys are still dominant. In a worldwide field test these solutions have been implemented using a group of over 50 employees from NXP Semiconductors who volunteered to use MIFARE enabled smart door locks replacing their traditional mechanical locking systems in their private homes. The physical installation as well as the programming of the lock was done by the candidates themselves. A survey showed that more than 80% of the participants managed the physical integration without any difficulties. Many  employees confirmed that they would rather forget their keys than their smart phones. Now that it is trust of technology over more traditional methods… Not sure I would do it but well done to those who did.

And finally - PayPal president David Marcus had less than ideal coverage in the press last week (I know the phrase 'All press is good press'. I don't agree). However, in Marcus' case, it started with him announcing on his Twitter feed that: "My card (with EMV chip) got skimmed while in the UK. Ton of fraudulent 'txns' (?). Wouldn't have happened if merchant accepted PayPal…". Needless to say, there were responses back to this tweet - all along roughly the same line of '@davidmarcus implies EMV is flawed. Also unlikely the fraud was committed in Europe without the chip'. He did clarify his thoughts later with the tweet; "to be fair. It's the mag stripe that most likely got cloned. Not chip."

It wasn't until an internal PayPal memo was leaked that things really started to get a little hotter for the PayPal chief. In a contentiously titled piece called 'PayPal chief reams employees: Use our app or quit', Venture Beat claims that Marcus has instructed his San Jose office to either get with the program and use the PayPal app or go and work elsewhere. He also goes on to say “Employees in other offices hack into Coke machines to make them accept PayPal because they feel passionately about using PayPal everywhere. I don’t see these behaviors here in San Jose.” It's hard not to see the irony when only a day before he had complained that his credit card had been hacked. Venture Beat was quick to point out that, "clearly not all hacking is acceptable in Marcus’ book — only hacking that supports the company’s business objectives". This story got a little traction - some insiders thought that pressuring employees to use the product was tantamount to corporate bullying while other praised him for it.

I thought this was an interesting position. If we are trying to get the mass mass market to trust companies involved in contactless & NFC technology, be it door locks, ticketing or payment - how far do you go to make sure that company employees actively use their own products and technology, and at what point do you make it compulsory rather than optional. Surely everyone would be using these products, especially those working for 'technology' companies. Their products, solutions and technology are, after all, the most trustworthy - are they not?

Until next week,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Was the HCE endorsement by Visa & MasterCard the 'game changer' for mobile payments? Probably.

Sometimes nothing happens in the industry - or rather 'things' do happen but it's all a little random and haphazard. Occasionally, just occasionally, certain stories and announcements happen so much in sync that you think there is some kind of giant masterplan. This last week was such an occasion. And it all had to do with Host Card Emulation.

In the space of two days we had stories left and right that covered HCE announcements. First were the news (separate from each other) that both MasterCard and Visa are to adopt HCE for NFC-based payments. While this definitely falls into the 'cat amongst the pigeons' category, it is undoubtably a huge breakthrough for NFC mobile payments. Judging by the traffic/comments on the various LinkedIn payment groups regarding this subject matter, I am not the only only one who sees it in this way. An endorsement certainly but this also now leads the way to cloud-based tokenisation allowing more secure mobile payments.

Apple has also been mentioned a couple of times in context to this release. Some industry observers have reported that "Apple has been quietly asking for Visa and MasterCard to endorse a Secure Element replacement and to present a framework for tokenization of the payment card held in the cloud." Well, it's here now. So what does that mean for any future Apple announcements? Perhaps the mobile iWallet is nearer than we think…

But enough of Apple - who else made the news this week concerning HCE? Well, following on the heels of the MasterCard and Visa announcement came ABnote, a card manufacturer and provider of Near Field Communication (NFC) and Trusted Service Manager (TSM) based solutions, will integrate its existing TSM service with SimplyTapp’s Host Card Emulation (HCE) platform, creating what they describe as "the payment industry’s broadest offering  of secure, cloud-based NFC solutions." The combined service will be hosted securely within ABnote’s certified global network of data centres, and will support both standard Secure Element (SE) cloud implementations and token based solutions. 

Proxama also announced a partnership with security provider Cryptomathic to launch a mobile contactless payment solution, called EMV Tokenised Transaction (EMV-TT) and leverages Host Card Emulation. As opposed to ABnotes solution, with EMV-TT, card issuers can launch a mobile contactless payment service without having to rely on a secure element provider or Trusted Service Manager (TSM). The companies point out that this means the cutting down of complexity and cost, while providing greater flexibility for value added services. As a standalone solution, EMV-TT leverages existing card issuance and authorisation systems and Proxama’s TapPoint® service platform and mobile wallet SDKs. Proxama also point out that EMV-TT has been designed to enable a simple migration from the HCE to the standard Secure Element based approach or vice-versa should the bank or network operator wish to change its deployment or partner strategy in the future.

With so much industry chatter concerning HCE, it also seems like a no-brainer that we will hear more on this subject during MWC in Barcelona this week. Having said that, I don't suppose everyone will be looking to 'big up' HCE. I spoke with Gemalto last year at Cartes and asked about HCE and the impact that it would have on their business. They were fairly laid back and spoke about how they "supported the use of other payment solutions that did not necessarily employ a secure element in the SIM card." Fair enough, but on the news that both MasterCard and Visa were endorsing HCE, Gemalto's share price dropped the most it had in more than three years. 

Analysts from various banks were following the same line as Ali Farid Khwaja, an analyst at Berenberg Bank, who said, "The outlook for Gemalto’s Mobile Communication segment, which accounts for around 50 percent of its earnings, is the main reason for our sell recommendation. HCE is simpler, cheaper and the fact that Visa and Mastercard have approved it also suggests that it is secure to use for payment transactions.” I am sure that the stock price will rebound, but companies such as Gemalto and their like had better have a more convincing argument when speaking to the 3,500 media and analysts at this week's show. HCE is here and unlikely to disappear, and for my money, represents the most disruptive security payment solution out there today. Ignore it at your peril.

So yes, were are at the 'big bun fight in Barcelona', as we have taken to calling it, this week. If you would like to speak to us or have us drop round and show us your demos or even want to chat about future CI inclusions or coverage, please drop me a line either directly or through the contact form on the CI site - we are picking up as things come in. But more than that - if you see us - say 'hello', it really does make our day!

Hasta la próxima semana.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

MWC 2014 - where NFC met biometrics in Barcelona.

I am just back from MWC 2014 - probably one of the most stressed out shows I visit every year. I know I probably shouldn't say that, but come on, let's be honest with each other here: This year there were approximately 85,000 visitors (according to official figures) so it's hardly going to be a quiet walk in the park, is it?

The trick, I have found, is to concentrate only on what you really want to see. It's so easy to get distracted otherwise. For me, one of the 'look for technology' this year was NFC and its use either outside of the wallet or as a co-operating technology. It wasn't that hard to find, either. Wherever I looked, NFC appeared to be embedded into tablets, wearables, and other machine-to-machine form factors. And as well as embedding into other form factors, its use in conjunction with biometric technology was also very evident. 

Some of those companies showcasing mobile wearable technology included Samsung, who showed the press their new Galaxy S5 with NFC and fingerprint verification. Following suit is Alcatel, with their OneTouch, who are to bring out a wearable handset with NFC and non-NFC options and Sony, who will use  NFC in their smart wristband, as well as two new Xperia smartphones, an Xperia tablet, and other accessories.  Getting back to Samsung, though, they may not be their first to offer fingerprint technology but they are the first to use it in conjunction with mobile payments.

The technology company is working with PayPal, and in a statement, the company's CPO (Chief Product Officer), Hill Ferguson said, "The only information the device shares with PayPal is a unique encrypted key that allows us to verify the identity of the customer. Consumers don’t need to sacrifice convenience to increase security,” emphasising that security is an important issue and that a user’s biometric details are not stored on PayPal servers.

Combining biometrics with payment solutions, enabling two-factor authentication, is a nice way to reassure users, concerned with security of their mobile transactions, that everything is OK. Samsung were not the only company to emphasise this point. Hitachi’s security solutions business manager Peter Jones said, “The decision to adopt biometric technology is indicative of a much wider trend that is seeing sensors being used across both consumer and business applications to improve user experience, but crucially to increase security.” Hitachi is betting that the implementation of biometrics in mobile handsets is the just the beginning and 2014 will see a wider adoption of biometrics across a variety of different industries and markets.

Of course, PayPal know a good thing when they see it. They were  quick to follow each and every Samsung announcement with a 'we have an app for that' statement. With the Galaxy S5, PayPal will support fingerprint authentication as an alternative to passwords. With the Gear 2 smartwatch, PayPal will allow consumers to manage their accounts, redeem offers and authorize payments from their wrists. Of course, I don't want to appear disingenuous – PayPal is a member of the FIDO appliance and they obviously want to decrease reliance on traditional passwords - fingerprint would be an obvious alternative now that the technology is being rolled out across mobile handsets. So who wouldn't want to follow the trend that makes sense on many levels?

Of course many commentators say that there isn't a viable market short term for wearable computing. Ron Shevlin, a senior analyst at Aite Group said, "PayPal's initiative with Samsung is an interesting experiment, and probably does more to enhance their image and branding as a technology leader than it does to drive transactions and revenue." That's a little harsh, I thought.

Following on from my editorial last week on Host Card Emulation (HCE), there were plenty of further announcements concerning this secure payment solution. Many from transaction technology providers, including the likes of Carta Worldwide and banks around Europe (and the Baltics)including Privatbank in Ukraine. Probably best to leave that particular subject there for the moment. I imagine they have bigger things to worry about right now than the safety of their mobile payments…

Other news concerned the partnership and acquisition of various entities and companies;  the acquiring of C-SAM by MasterCard, the roll out of mobile payments across Germany and the formation of an Asian NFC partnership. Visa also confirmed what we already suspected; that Mobile payments in Europe are gathering momentum.

However, my favourite moment was doing the NFC check-in. Never mind that I brought along a Samsung phone that was NFC-enabled and I had registered (and was verified) with the conference under an NFC ticket; the entry points would just not work for me. On both the first and second day I was there, MWC entrance staff gave up (after first verifying that 1) I was not an idiot and 2) I had an NFC-enabled phone and everything was working fine) and allowed me to touch my print-out badge to the reader. 

The third day I collected one of the Incipio cashwrap NFC cases (powered by DeviceFidelity - as they continued to remind us) and low and behold - I made an NFC entrance! With an iPhone, no less! Is it wrong to say that this was the highlight of my trip to Barcelona? Incipio's CEO, Andy Fathollahi, told me that they expect to give away over 10,000 case over the duration of the show - no half measures there, then. He also expects to sell over a million of the phone cases this year (approx. $69 each) as they are used for the Isis wallet. I nodded, smiled and remained silent. I can't let my cynicism effect other people. No matter how impressed I was for using NFC to enter MWC 2014 with my iPhone!

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Could 'card clash' spur on the mobile wallet?

To be honest, although I have come across the concern of two or more contactless cards in my wallet causing a problem when using the Oyster on public transport in London, I had never come across the term 'card clash' until last week despite all those cosmopolitan users of Oyster in London being aware of the term for ages. Call me slow. Go on. I dare you. 

Fact is, for some reason, last week Twitter went crazy for a couple of days upon the subject of card clash. There is no rhyme or reason for it. I think it it just a case of group grievance. That is, one person has a moan, then another joins in and before long, everyone is having their own moan around a particular subject on a common platform. Or as I know it - sunday lunch with the in-laws. Here is a prime example from Twitter user Robin Thomas @robindthomas; 'Contactless payment cards will be pointless until they are on a different frequency to Oyster cards'. I am not sure that Mr. Thomas totally understand contactless technology but I can assure him that this is not FM radio. However, I can understand his frustration and grievance and as I have said - he is not alone out there. There is even a campaign to educate the users of public transport in London of the dangers.

This got me to thinking. If this is becoming something that the public are concerned about; payment for one item being charged to two cards ('card clash' – I love that, it sounds like an action & adventure film!), then wouldn't this be alleviated by the use of the mobile wallet? Wasn't one of the argument against mobile wallets that they didn't add that much to the actual transaction experience? Well if we explain that the use of mobile wallets could do away with card clash - would that count as a 'plus one' in the mobile wallet score column? Just a thought.

As we are a week out of the Mobile World Congress, it is not surprising that the collective industry news organisations have gone a little quiet - they announced everything they could at MWC and are now trying to get back their second wind. For this reason I ended up doing a little bit of back reading and came across a report issued from Yankee Group a week or so ago but must have got lost amongst the MWC 'noise'. 

The report, titled 'US Mobile Wallet Roundup: Gauging the Future Potential of Today's Solutions' in a nutshell is thus: Yankee Group ranks the staying power of Google Wallet, Isis, LevelUp, Loop, MCX, PayPal, and Square as determined by the strength of their merchant and consumer value propositions and ability to deliver on them. Industry critics have (perhaps unkindly) described the mobile wallet market as one that is 'eternally 12 to 18 months out'. However the Yankee Group report says that two-thirds of consumers surveyed are interested in mobile wallets. A caveat to that, though, is only 16 percent of mobile device owners have used their phone to make an in-store payment in the past three months.

The Yankee Group report, written by Analyst Jordan McKee, predicts an inevitable "wave of consolidation" and rates the chances of success for various players in the industry. After reading the report, one thing is for sure, it's no longer so much about who has the best technology but who has the scale to make it cheap, as well as the right backing and partnerships. Yankee Group also point to mobile payments success requiring "added value beyond the transaction", referring to "contextually relevant offers and deep loyalty integration".

Interestingly, ISIS, the joint venture formed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is in a 'low potential' category for its lack of ecosystem. Isis is struggling to make a case for deploying SmartTap PoS terminals, which merchants must purchase to enable offers and loyalty redemption. "Without SmartTap merchants, Isis is merely a cumbersome, mobile version of a contactless credit card," Yankee Group concludes. Perhaps this is why they are running a campaign in conjunction with American Express based on loyalty points at the moment.

So, which solutions have 'high potential' according to Yankee Group? Merchant Exchange (MCX) and PayPal landed in this category. They are described as 'mature technologies with built-in customer bases and major backing'. For instance, MCX now represents 59 merchants, more than 110,000 store locations and 30 percent of consumer spending volume. And then there's PayPal, which Yankee Group points out  has taken an early lead in the mobile wallet race. With 15 percent of consumers having used its application in the past month to make an in-store transaction, PayPal enjoys nearly four times the adoption of its closest third-party wallet competitor, Google.

And what about Google Wallet? Yankee Group says it has 'medium potential,' citing that just 4 percent of consumers have used it for an in-store transaction in the past month. "More troubling, Google continues to lose money on every single transaction as a result of its hybrid NFC/cloud payment architecture," Yankee Group notes. "Until recently Google’s days in payments looked very numbered, but a slew of announcements in the past four months lead us to believe it may be back on track."

"With the hype surrounding mobile wallets building on a daily basis, separating the signal from the noise has become increasingly difficult. The harsh reality is that despite billions in investment across the ecosystem, adoption of such mobile payment technologies has been far from illustrious," said Jordan McKee, "Just 16 percent of mobile device owners have used their phone to make an in-store payment in the past three months. More concerning, of those using mobile wallets, 73 percent are doing so fewer than five times per month. Clearly, the way we pay for goods and services is not slated to change anytime soon. But although cash and cards may enjoy dominance for some time, with fully two-thirds of consumers remaining interested, it's important to recognize that the mobile wallet is far more of a latent opportunity than a pipe dream."

I'm telling you – card clash avoidance is the arguments to getting better acceptance and user rates for mobile wallets! Just a thought...

In other news last week, PowaTag's mobile payment platform was finally released in the Apps store and Google Play store - you can read about it and watch the video here. There is still not a lot of fanfare surrounding the launch, but I don't know if this is a deliberate tactic or not. Congratulations also go out to VeriFone who won the 2014 Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) Award in the mPOS (mobile point of sale) category at MPE 2014 in Berlin last week. Congratulations!

And finally, Newsweek claim to have discovered the creator of digital currency Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto; a name many thought was a pseudonym for either an individual or perhaps a group of developers. However, after an exhaustive investigation and search, the creator turned out to be a 64-year-old Japanese-American computer engineer, living in California under the name, wait for it, Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto. He claims he has nothing to do with Bitcoin, but who would have thought that all you had to do to find the most illusive digital currency creator on the planet was to look him up in the Californian/Silicon Valley phone book? Go figure!

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

The CMA 2014 finalists are announced!

The awards represent a real promotional springboard and give the winners a reputation and credibility for their efforts within the industry. The competition is open to all implemented contactless applications within the relevant sectors, regardless of geographic region or size of corporation. Despite being a UK-based event, nominees are evenly represented world wide; 2014 saw more nominees per region than ever before, with 13% based in the UK, 39% based in mainland Europe, and 48% Rest of World.

There are 11 categories that are judged by a panel of industry experts. Also, 1 category is voted for by the industry and 2 categories are selected by Visa Europe – all the winners are being announced at a prestigious evening ceremony organized in London following the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference on 29th April 2014. The finalists' details have been passed to the judging panel who are:

• Wendy Atkins – Contactless Intelligence Editor [Head Judge]
• Mark Austin - Visa Europe
• Michel Barjansky – ex RATP
• John Berry – European Commission (Research & Innovative Transport Systems)
• Paul Chamberlain - Association of Convenience Stores
• Paul Crutchley – GSMA
• John Devlin – ABI Research
• Kevin Farquharson – Smart Card Networking Forum
• Kristian T. Sørensen  - Mobey Forum
• Frédéric Vasnier - SIMalliance
• Samee Zafar – Edgar Dunn

Without further ado, the following are the categories and the finalists that are being presented to the judges;

1. Contactless Payment Collaboration
A new one for 2014! More commentators are talking about the need for effective partnerships when it comes to contactless payments; be it collaborations between MNOs, banks, retailers, third parties etc. After all, we know that nobody can make the payment industry work in isolation. So, in the spirit of this year's Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference and its focus on ‘Learning from Experience’, we are looking for the company that has done the most to foster collaboration between different players in the contactless payment value chain. Who’s up for working well with others?

• Leumi Card Ltd (Israel) - Leumi card wallet
• Bank Polski (Poland) - PayWave technology implementation
• Austria Card (Austria) - Mobile wallet integration
• VeriFone (USA) - Ride with points

2. Retail
Another new one for 2014! The retail industry is the front line for all consumer oriented technology innovation. In this category, we are rewarding retailers that embrace technology to improve the customer experience. From digital signage to virtual storefronts to smart mobile payment systems; in the retail category, the judges are looking for forward looking, integrated solutions that take shopping to the next level.

• Heidi.com (Switzerland) - Digital signage with mobile purchasing
• Grassfish (Austria) - VE CONNECT Interactive vending
• Proxama (UK) - NFC usage at UK Argos stores
• Pyramid IT (Germany) - Interactive shopping kiosk at M&S

3. Transportation and Ticketing
Awarded for the best use of contactless / NFC technology within the transportation and ticketing environment. Be it public transport or tickets for events, this award is aimed at those companies who have embraced the new contactless / NFC technology to deliver their specific products to a mass audience.

• Road & Transportation Authority (UAE) - Smart card for transport
• Transport for London (UK) - Contactless payment cards in London
• ECEBS/SPT (UK) - Bramble transport and payment card for SPT
• Vix Technology (South Africa) - Vix eBrio fare collection system

4. Mobile Payment
With so much energy going into NFC payment applications for mobile payment solutions, there is a vast number of payment apps available in the market; each with their own distinct characteristics. From mobile wallets to pure payment solutions, this category aims to reward one company for doing the most to bring mobile payments to the mass market.

• Boppl (UK) - Boppl (mobile pre-order and payment hospitality service)
• BBVA (Spain) - BBVA mobile wallet
• Turkcell (Turkey) - Turkcell mobile wallet
• Yapital (Luxembourg) - Yapital mobile payment solution

5. Innovation
Contactless and NFC technology is moving beyond payment to new applications, be it location marketing, museum guides, or online note taking. In this category, we are rewarding innovative uses of NFC and contactless technology.

• HDB Technology (France) - CLAP the new information & communication platform
• Selinko (Belgium) - Product authentication via NFC
• Sequent (USA) - Sequent Open Wallet Platform
• QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited (UK) - QS Tap

6. Customer Experience
Awarded for the most convenient use of contactless / NFC technology creating a great customer experience. Be it public transport or tickets for events, this award is aimed at those companies who have embraced the new contactless / NFC technology to deliver their specific products to a mass audience.

• Citi Bank (Czech Republic) - Micro tags
• UBS Switzerland (Switzerland) - UBS Access Card and Access Card Display
• RedeProtege (Brazil) - PagTaxi - Taxi contactless payment
• Bon-Ton/Thinaire (USA) - Bon-Ton Shoe Salons with NFC

7. Loyalty
What could be a better sector just waiting for contactless / NFC technology than the loyalty industry? With so many loyalty cards out there today – all waiting to be integrated into a mobile phone – surely this industry sector is the one embracing new technology the most?

• Carrot rewards/NXP (Bangkok) - Carrot Rewards for Rabbit card
• Escher (Ireland) - P2P NFC Mobile Loyalty
• Proxama (UK) - NFC and BLE loyalty solutions
• Wooshping/Nokia (UK) - Tap for Tunes

8. Public Domain
NFC and contactless technology enables innovative and convenient public sector applications. From health to local government, from education to electronic services – in this category we award successful implementation in the public domain.

• Vix Technology (USA) - UTA/FAREPAY
• Nottingham College (UK) - NFC posters for EFL learning
• eKiosk (Germany) - Interactive eGovernment terminal
• PetHub (USA) - NFC tags for dogs

9. Marketing Campaign
Smart posters, in-store endorsements, social networking, location marketing – a number of marketing and advertising agencies have embraced NFC technology within the heart of their campaigns. It’s an exciting time and this category rewards both agencies and clients who have taken the leap and used NFC technology to market their products to the public.

• MoLo (UK) - NFC/QR code treasure hunts
• Wooshping/Nokia (UK) - Smart Appvent Calendar
• Thinaire/Unilever (USA) - Unilever’s Good Humor “Share The Love” campaign
• Tapit/Google (Australia) - Google Campaign

10. Infrastructure
Without a solid and reliable infrastructure in place, containing tags, registers, readers and POS terminals, NFC and contactless implementation would fail. In this category, we are looking for backend players with a track record of suitably impressive projects, rollouts or ventures.

• Phaymobile (Turkey) - TSMxpert
• ATM/Smarting (Spain) - Secure Card Abstraction Layer (SCAL) enabling migration
• Ibrahim Serhat BULUT (Turkey) - All-in-Mobile
• AIRTAG (France) - AIRPASS SDK solution

11. Eco System
Small-scale pilots have made way for company-, city- or even country-sized projects, bringing together many application areas and user experiences. Payments, posters, tourist information services, public transportation and even parking – in this category we award the efforts behind those contactless / NFC eco systems. This category is being sponsored by Samsung Semiconductor Europe.

• Bell ID (The Netherlands) - Secure Element in the cloud
• ICS (The Netherlands) - NFC Mobile Payments
• Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka (Czech Republic) - mPO2S
• Connecthings (France) - MonGroom project - Grenoble

New for 2014 are two categories; 'Contactless Payment Collaboration' and 'Retail'. Contactless Intelligence was keen to create these two new categories because we felt that these are two intrinsic areas that showcase what it takes to bring contactless and NFC technology to the general public. Both categories represent areas that are vital to the mainstream adoption of contactless technology.

Industry Choice Award

Started last year and back by popular demand, the Contactless Intelligence 'Industry Choice Award' will be opened on April 7th 2014 and run for ten days. The nominees of this award are the finalists in the eleven categories outlined in this years CMAs plus 4 runner ups that the judges decided should be singled out for special recognition. The additional four nominees are:

• Ensygnia (UK) – Onescan (secure mobile payment service solution)
• Všeobecná úverová banka (Slovakia) – VISA Inspire Wave 2 Pay (micro tags for mobile payment)
• Barclays (UK) – PingIt (mobile application for money transfers)
• Česká spořitelna (Czech Republic) – Contactless payment cards (highest average contactless spend in region)

Voted for by the industry at www.contactlessintelligence.com, this award allows the entrants mobile, NFC and contactless industry to vote on who they think should get recognition. Voting starts on the 7th April and finishes on the 17th April 2014. The winner will be announced on the 29th April, during the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference Awards Gala.

Visa Europe will also present the winners of two further awards on 29th April: The 'Visa payWave Award for Business Leader of the Year' and the 'Visa payWave Award for Best Contactless Awareness and Education Campaign'. 

"Visa is delighted to be sponsoring the Contactless and Mobile Awards again in 2014 and we are excited by the increase in the quantity and variety of nominations this year and in the level of innovation in mobile payments. During the past year we have witnessed a major transformation in the world of payments. Visa contactless payments are now available in twice as many European countries as this time last year and consumers have become increasingly comfortable using the technology, making over 340 million transactions in the past 12 months. We should not think the work is finished though and the next two to three years will be critical to the success of both contactless and mobile contactless. We all need to continue enhancing consumer awareness and extending availability  to achieve the vision of a ubiquitous contactless solution.” said Mark Austin, Director of Contactless at Visa Europe (Platinum Sponsors of the CMAs)."

The winners of each category will be announced at a Gala Dinner award ceremony on the 29th April at the London Hilton Tower Bridge Hotel, London, UK.  For details on attending the ceremony, please visit www.contactlessintelligence.com. Over the next few weeks we will be giving out further details on each finalist and their application on the Contactless Intelligence site so please stay tuned!

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Are NFC supporters in the US starting to panic?

Everyone, whether they admit it or not, likes to see fighting talk between major institutions in their industry. It evokes a 'us and them' mentality that is sometimes beneficial for companies to remain focused and determined. Not always but often. Whatever you do though, be careful how you phrase your words. It's easy to end up berating a whole section of your customers while trying to point out the 'error of their ways'. Especially if the 'error of their ways' is going with a competing technology.

Case in point is Isis versus Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Just to recap; in one corner we have Isis – a joint venture of Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile US, which launched the Isis mobile payment network across the US in November 2013 and, in the other, MCX - a company created by the collaboration of some of the largest US retail companies, with the purpose of offering a new platform for smartphone-based transactions. A few weeks ago, it was announced that ExxonMobil had joined its ranks, bringing MCX membership to about 70 brands with 110,000 retail locations processing more than $1 trillion in payments a year. Other members include Walmart, Sears, Kohl's, Lowe's, Dunkin' Donuts and other national US retailers.

On top of this came the news that a handful of national retailers had begun turning off the NFC reading capability in their upgraded POS terminals, according to several industry analysts and Isis. Cue an angry email putting forward the Isis point of view on this latest development from Isis CTO Scott Mulloy. It was reported that in an email interview, he had this to say: "A handful of retailers are moving counter to the broader industry movement towards more secure payment technologies. This affects millions of contactless cards already in circulation as well as new mobile wallet innovations. It's a massive step backwards. When a merchant with thousands or even hundreds of locations turns off contactless [NFC payments] and chooses a less secure option, it's significant for consumers and the broader payments industry, as we have seen with recent high profile data breaches." I guess he is referring to Target and Neiman Marcus.

Computer World, in following this story, reported that several industry analysts said they had heard that some MCX members such as Best Buy and 7-Eleven had installed NFC-ready payment terminals in the past two years, but had recently turned off that capability. One reason often cited is the avoidance of the high fees charged by banks and credit card processors, while other analysts said the retailers are shutting them down to avoid operational costs. "I imagine these retailers are turning off the technology because there aren't any shoppers with NFC and smart card payment capability walking into the store and it costs more to keep those features turned on," said Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner.

Jordan McKee, an analyst at Yankee Group, was quoted saying that MCX plans to use barcode scanning for the "forseeable future,"adding that MCX "has a lot of potential as a disruptor. It's going to be big. MCX plans to sidestep any requirement that customers load up a Visa or MasterCard card to a smartphone, and will instead require them to make purchases with phones and barcodes directly from their bank accounts - a significant departure from business as usual."

I can understand the consternation at Isis, but the key to NFC acceptance in payments is not to wag a finger and invoke a 'you're wrong' mentality. It was always going to be an uphill struggle to bring NFC mobile payments to a country that had not even embraced EMV, so there really needs to be a stronger argument from Isis on the benefits of mobile NFC-based payments. Of course, considering they are proponents of keeping the secure element on the chip in the phone, the whole HCE thing must also have blinded them somewhat. The Yankee Group reckons that while HCE will increase use of NFC, it's "a very bad thing for Isis, and just proves that operators are not a necessary component for a consumer wallet." They also had warning words for the future of Isis itself "It seems like they've run out their leash as far as they can, and they need something to happen or they have to re-evaluate," said the Group's Jordan McKee. "Isis won't even say how many smartphone owners have loaded the Isis app." 

It just seems so opposite to what we are seeing in Europe. Every week we hear more news concerning mobile POS systems that can take a variety of payment formats (NFC included). In fact, Smart Insights came out with a report last week 'mPOS expansion shakes the Point of Sales industry,' that states mPOS shipments are expected to keep growing in the next years at a CAGR of 40% between 2013 and 2018, leading to 52.1 million mPOS units to be shipped in 2018. APAC will be the region experiencing the fastest growth throughout the years, despite mPOS deployment in this zone starting slower and later than in the US and Europe. This mPOS shipments growth is expected to be driven primarily by a large number of merchants adding mPOS solutions to their existing POS solutions. As the technology evolves and becomes more mature, mPOS solutions will become viable solutions for merchants willing to completely replace their solutions. Seems like the other side of the coin from what is reportedly happening in the US, doesn't it?

As for HCE - well, Google are doing what they can to make sure their wallet users change over or update to the latest Android system. A Google announcement last week told everyone of their intention to shut down Tap & Pay functionality on April 14 for any Android system below Android 4.4. (KitKat). In other words, you will only be able to store loyalty cards and offers, send money to friends, view orders, and use the physical Google Wallet card to make purchases. You will not be able to use the Tap & Pay portion. I'm not sure how many users this will effect but it shows that Google is serious about HCE - so perhaps Isis should be worried about their long term future.

Finally, just to let everyone know that the Industry Choice Award will be going live on the 7th April. This is a no-hold barred first-to-the-top voting system. You vote, the vote is counted. You vote again, the vote is counted. You vote once more, the vote is counted. Get the idea? It sorts those who want to win an award and can motivate their supporters against those who have no supporters and can't even motivate themselves. You do not want to be in the latter category now, do you? So come on, get fired up, and get ready to vote on the 7th April. The voting will remain open for 10 days only!

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Wanted: Security Scapegoats for Mobile Payments

OK, the title is a little misleading for the topic I wanted to cover, but I don't think it's that far from what may end up being true in the near future. News came out last week concerning the legal action being taken by the banks affected by the Target data breach scandal that occurred late last year. According to reports, Trustmark National Bank of New York and Green Bank of Houston have named both Target and their data security vendor, Trustwave, in a lawsuit filed last week. The banks claim that both Target and Trustwave had failed to stop the theft of 40 million payment card details and 70 million other personal records.

The suit contends Target retained Trustwave Holdings Inc. to monitor its computer systems and ensure compliance with PCI-DSS, an industry security recommendation pushed by MasterCard and Visa to protect cardholder data from leaking. Trustwave scanned Target's network on Sept. 20, 2013 and told Target no vulnerabilities were found, the suit alleges. Target has said it believed attackers stole the data between Nov. 27, 2013, and Dec. 15, 2013, via malicious software installed on point-of-sale devices. The malware collected unencrypted payment card details after a card was swiped and briefly held in a computer's memory, capitalizing on a unknown weakness despite years of efforts to harden payment systems.

On Saturday, Trustwave said it did not process cardholder data for the retailer or handle Target's data security as a lawsuit alleges. In a letter to customers and business partners, Trustwave Chief Executive Robert McCullen said the company's connection to Target was not what had been portrayed in a suit filed last Monday. "Contrary to the misstated allegations in the plaintiffs' complaints, Target did not outsource its data security or IT obligations to Trustwave. Trustwave did not monitor Target's network, nor did Trustwave process cardholder data for Target," said the letter from McCullen posted on the company's website. "These claims against Trustwave are without merit," the letter added.

Now, I know that in this case it is not the same as data stolen via mobile payments, but I believe that looking at this example could flag up potential warnings when it comes to mass adoption of mobile payment technology. Financial services firms have continued to pursue advanced banking and transaction technology in the past several years, and as data tends to be sensitive in this sector, access controls have been a focal point of priorities. When it will finally come down to mobile payments and mobile banking transactions, these firms will really need to ensure that all potential systems that will handle financial information are properly secured. 

Several reports have been released in the past few months regarding the relatively horrendous security of applications that are being used on mobile devices, especially those related to banking functions. Earlier this year, various news outlets reported that iPhones might represent a significant security risk because of un-patched vulnerabilities that were present on a variety of Apple devices, including iPods and iPads. Apple has since issued patches but the fact still remains that more transaction endpoints mean more vulnerabilities that can be exploited in the transactional process.

In the Target data breach example above, U.S. banks have spent more than US$172 million reissuing cards, the lawsuit said, citing figures from the Consumer Banker Association. The total cost of the breach to retailers and banks could exceed $18 billion, the suit claims. Imagine how big the lawsuits could be if unscrupulous entities were to exploit security flaws in the upcoming mobile payment revolution. Consumers are already voicing concerns over the security of mobile payments - some well-founded, other not - but I once again call upon institutions with a vested interest in this area to put education into place to allay some of these concerns. After the fact, one entity taking legal action against another in the same nightmare scenario does nothing to bolster either parties reputation, nor does it do anything to restore confidence in the financial transaction process as scapegoats are found and offered to consumers for sacrifice. Not to mention the incessant finger-pointing.

In more positive news, we at Contactless Intelligence have started to cover the finalists in the Contactless and Mobile Awards - below you will find more information pertaining to those finalists entered into the Marketing Campaign, Loyalty, Public Domain and Customer Experience categories – more details on other finalists will emerge over the week. Please feel free to check out the finalists and their projects. I should also point out that the Industry Choice Award will go live next Monday so please keep an eye out for that. Remember - every vote counts in this category (and we mean that literally).

The Conference is also shaping up nicely with our best ever list of speakers and panelists, including: David Sear, CEO of Weve; Mark Austin, Director, Mobile and Contactless and responsible for managing Visa Europe’s contactless product range across Europe; Thomas Arenz, Associate Director and head of Marketing Communications for Samsung Semiconductor Europe; Tim Daly Co-Founder of Thinaire; Andreas Doering, co-founder and CEO of Heidi.com; Roland Grassberger CEO and founder of Grassfish Marketing Technologies; Ercan Kilic Head of MobileCom at GS1 Germany; Graham Peacop, Managing Director of The UK Cards Association; Raja Ray, Director of Solutions at VeriFone; Alexander Rensink, Strategic Marketing Director at NXP; Björn Scharfen, Marketing Director, Infineon Technologies; Richard Braham, lead on retail payments, e-commerce and consumer credit policy at the British Retail Consortium and Michael Birchall, responsible for all aspects of the Post Office’s current and future prepaid activity. This is the not the full list of speakers - just a few of them. A complete list can be found at our Speakers Bio page on the Contactless Intelligence website.

The day and award evening is looking to be our biggest and best ever so if you haven't registered for tickets - don't delay. Click here to register.

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

The Industry Choice Award voting is now open!

If you are reading this and you are a finalist in this year's Contactless & Mobile Awards, then the time has come to vote for your company, your product, your solution and everything is up for grabs! Like, share, tweet - make sure you spread the word and increase your chance to walk away with not one, but two awards at the end of the month. Personally, I love this award category in the Contactless & Mobile Awards. With it being out of the hands of the esteemed judges, and in the hands of social media reach, it reflects how much drive and determination exists within each company to win.

The nominees of this award are the finalists in the eleven categories outlined in this years CMAs plus 4 runner ups that the judges decided should be singled out for special recognition. These are nominees that the judges felt this year should have made it to the finals but for one reason or another were just pipped at the post. The additional four nominees are:

The winner of this award will be voted for by the industry at large via our web poll. All companies mentioned here will be in the running, and the company that receives the most votes will win. Our advise? Get people in your office to register a vote, your friends, your family – the more the better your chances are to win. The only important thing to remember is that voting started this morning and will end at midnight on the 17th April. The other finalists are below as a reminder.

1. Contactless Payment Collaboration

2. Retail

3. Transportation and Ticketing

4. Mobile Payment

5. Innovation

6. Customer Experience

7. Loyalty

8. Public Domain

9. Marketing Campaign

10. Infrastructure

11. Eco System

The winner will be announced on the 29th April, during the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference Awards Gala, London. For more details on the event and how to register for tickets, please follow this link here.

I really wanted to keep the focus of this week's editorial on the Industry Choice Awards but I do want mention a couple of video's that we have on our site at the moment. One is an OSPT update from Samsung Semiconductor's Jörg Suchy and another is an interesting interview given by Weve CEO, David Sear, who says that 70% of consumers want to pay with their mobile. If you disagree with this or would like to know more - you can ask him yourself when you see him at the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference where he is speaking on “Navigating a fragmented market in mobile”.

A more normal editorial will resume next week, but until then - get voting!

Until next week.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Apple and Google - back on track for the mobile wallet?

We are back into the season of "will they, won't they?". What am I referring to? Why, Apple and the elusive NFC inclusion into one of their iPhones, of course! Last week saw KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo speak to investors about his predictions for Apple's future product roadmap. Investor analyst predictions are sometimes more akin to wish lists than factual information but Kuo has a good track record of actually getting things right; the Retina MacBook Air, improved Apple TV, iPad with Touch ID and an iWatch launch later this year. But what caught our eye was his prediction of NFC inclusion in iWatch and the new iPhone devices.

As readers of Contactless Intelligence will know - we have never been afraid to make it clear that we thought Apple may have been missing out on a trick in NFC. No matter how slow the market may have been in taking off - ignoring it completely was never really going to be a sound strategy. Apple introduced the idea of iBeacons BLE technology last year, which could replicate the payment functions of NFC and support for the other tech would mean broad compatibility with existing hardware that more and more merchants have now been adopting with their in-store point-of-sale systems. Both types of technology are still not in the mass adoption stage, but NFC is clearly further along than BLE.

It's been no secret that Apple is interested in the idea of a mobile wallet on their iPhone. After all, they have their iTune accounts already in place giving them an instant network of over 600 million users with credit card information on file. And with NFC, Touch ID could be used to authenticate those payments, or even to authenticate identify for store loyalty or other purposes, too. We normally hear something on the latest iPhones around the late spring/early summer months so we shouldn't have too long to wait.

Another player in the mobile wallet market that has been quiet (very quiet) recently is Google with their mobile wallet. So quiet have they been that some commentators thought it was the signal of a long, slow withdrawal from the wallet market. However, we can say that those thoughts have been laid to rest as of last week. cNet reported last week that Google Head of Payments Ariel Bardin told the audience during his presentation at the Electronic Transactions Association's Transact 2014 trade show in Las Vegas, that the company isn't giving up on Wallet or the mobile payments market. "We have been doing this for a while and we'll continue to keep doing this for a long while." He acknowledged the slow consumer adoption of Google Wallet, but highlighted the company's nearly 15-month-long evolution of the product, which now has expanded beyond Google Wallet's initial reach. And the key to Google Wallet's transformation has been the cloud. "We started out with Google Wallet, which equaled NFC. We still do that, but now we offer many different types of payments and services," Bardin said.

Google has revamped their mobile wallet. It still uses NFC for the tap and pay functionality, but it now uses HCE to store card information. "The technology we initially used relied on hardware," Bardin explained. "And there were a bunch of hurdles to get it out the door using that approach. So we asked ourselves if we could emulate the secure element in software, and make it a core service in Android." That is exactly what the company has done. HCE is now included in Android 4.4, Google's latest version of Android software. With this new approach, Google has opened up NFC to any developer. Because the technology is built directly into the operating system software it not only works with Google Wallet, but it can also be used by other app developers that are building applications for Android. "Now anyone in the audience could build an app that leverages the tap-and-pay functionality," Bardin said.

In fact, everyone seems to be doing what they can to encourage mobile payments at the moment. Lasts week saw Finnish operator Elisa start selling stickers at popular convenience store R-kioski in an attempt to drive the popularity of mobile payments. Users can purchase the rechargeable stickers and attach them to their handsets, so broadening the reach of the operator’s wallet service beyond NFC-based smartphones. The stickers are enabled with MasterCard’s PayPass technology so are widely accepted at many retail outlets. I see this as another example of MNOs who really don't want to give up on NFC - and with good reason. Hopefully, Apple will indeed introduce NFC in the next iPhone and so encourage further NFC adoption. I look forward to the day when we can turn to each and say, "Remember when we used to place stickers on the back of our phones?… What were we thinking? …"

I couldn't end this weeks editorial without mentioning to all that the Industry Choice Award ends this coming Thursday. By Sunday evening we had just shy of 50,000 votes since last Monday. Not bad, but we still have another 4 days to go -  so, if you haven't motivated your supporters to vote - you still have time. The link is here, so what are you waiting for?

We are taking a short break this week so no Weekly News Review next Monday. Normal service will be resumed on the 28th April.

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence

Is Transport for London about to embrace NFC again?

One of the success stories that we are covering this Tuesday at our very own Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference is the use of contactless payments on public transport in London. Slightly ironic then, that at the precise moment we are meeting to hear how successful the implementations in this area have been, there is a London Tube strike planned. A strike that, in some way, has been caused by a direct consequence of such a successful implementation. 

The strike concerns the shutting down of ticking office (amongst other things). This shutting down has been argued to be a necessity thanks to the uptake of contactless payments - people just don't need to buy so many tickets any more. About 900 jobs will be affected - hence the strike. The irony that this happening at the same time as the conference and we have keynote speakers from Transport for London has not been lost on us. Luckily - the information that we have received points to the tube lines running to London Bridge (the site of the conference) appear to be relatively unaffected. Perhaps we got lucky after all. If you are reading this on a mobile device while travelling to london - fear not. We have here a link to a post that covers all the main information points concerned with the tube disruptions and hopefully you will be able to continue your journey and arrive at the hotel relatively unscathed. 

This time last year, I also remember hearing that Transport for London were very apathetic towards the use of NFC-based mobile payment or ticketing, claiming amongst other things that they were too slow. Less than 12 months later and it appears that they may be changing their tune. Reported last week was the news that MNOs such as EE and Vodafone are holding talks with TfL about using NFC-based mobiles for ticket purchasing and travel. The TfL already supports contactless payments through its own MiFARE based payment cards, and recently added limited support for direct payments through contactless debit cards. The UK's mobile networks now want to add support for their own mobile wallets to the payment mix.

A report in the Financial Times suggested that the service would be initially limited to prepay accounts, which debit a charge for each journey made, as opposed to monthly billing as used by the majority of commuters. Although the Oyster card is based on contactless technology, the card readers in train stations have recently been upgraded to support NFC payments as well.

Shashi Verma, TfL's director of customer experience, said: "The upgrade we have made to our readers to accept contactless payment cards also makes them capable of accepting suitable payment applications on mobile phones. We are doing some testing to see how the devices perform on the system and welcome any new payment technologies that meet the relevant industry standards and enable sufficiently fast transactions speeds." I am hoping to hear more about this at our conference tomorrow.

One side note - it seems it is not only TfL who are more optimistic about NFC. After hitting the news earlier this year with their 'not interested in NFC' statements, it appears that PayPal may have softened their stance. PayPal President David Marcus now considers NFC technology a viable option for mobile payments at the physical point of sale thanks to Google Android's support of Host Card Emulation. Marcus for years has called NFC "a technology in search of a problem", but he wrote on the PayPal blog last week that he is now more optimistic about its potential when paired with HCE. In the blog post Marcus says that another major problem with NFC has been the Secure Element and the way in which different players in the ecosystem have fought over who controls it.

"The bottom line is that I'm moving from being a massive skeptic of NFC, to being cautiously optimistic on NFC HCE take-up in very specific shopping-use cases," Marcus wrote on the blog. "But I still passionately believe that paying hands-free through a BLE Beacon and notifying the merchant you're in the store through that method will enable more transformative experiences for consumers and retailers alike." Perhaps Marcus has finally seen the light?

Well, if you are one of our delegates at Tuesday's Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference, you get the chance to ask quite a few retail representatives what their take is on the developments. Not only do we have a dedicated session on the future of retail, in our mobile technologies session, Weve CEO David Sear and Appflare Founder Owen Geddes along with their panel peers will take you through the myriad of today's three-letter buzzterms: HCE, BLE and what could happen to NFC…

We are very much looking forward to seeing many of you during the day and for the Award Dinner in the evening. Don't be put off by the tube strike, plan a bit more time to arrive and have a great informative day and a relaxed, fun evening - by then end of which the main commuter rush will have passed anyway.

Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday...

Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence