Dear Readers,
Are you living on the dark side of the moon? No? Well then you will have been made aware of the fact that the start of the 2012 Olympics is imminent. You certainly have no business being in the contactless and mobile payment industry if you are unaware that these particular Olympics are being billed as the 'Contactless Olympics'. An abundance of food and beverage as well as retail opportunities await those lucky enough to have a Visa contactless card or one of the bright shiny new Samsung NFC Olympic phones. Pay at kiosks, stores or unattended POS machines (that's "vending" to everyone else).
All very exciting. In fact, as many of our readers know, the biggest challenge for the development of NFC is establishing critical mass among consumers and merchants. A complex ecosystem is required to enable contactless payments. Visa has worked closely with merchants, acquirers and mass transit operators to increase acceptance of this payment method at the point of sale, as well as with banks to issue contactless cards and NFC enabled mobile devices and all being well, during these Olympic games we'll see if everything works out as it should do.
1,000 Samsung Galaxy S III NFC phones equipped with a Visa mobile payments app are being distributed to "key stakeholders and decision makers" for the London 2012 Olympics. The device is set up to work with a Giesecke & Devrient SIM containing an NFC secure element. This is issued by Telefonica O2, which announced last week that it had partnered with Visa for its NFC payments rollout in Europe. The SIM stores a Lloyds TSB prepaid card account. Contactless Intelligence will also be using the Samsung phone at the Games and once we have seen it in action, we look forward to sharing our thoughts with our readers.
Not everyone is giving the 'Contactless Games' a clean bill of health though. Security software vendor McAfee is warning that NFC payment during the Olympics could be an open door for fraudsters. "When we last looked at NFC phones and similar apps, there were questions of whether an attacker could go after the apps or the phone hardware and the Android operating system," wrote Jimmy Shah, a mobile security researcher at McAfee, in a blog post. "Since then we have seen a PIN-reset vulnerability that allowed an attacker to use the free prepaid card and the ability to crack PINs on the phone. Google updated the Wallet app to fix those vulnerabilities and make attacks much harder," he added. "Now attackers would need to go after the hardware itself, though this does not necessarily involve going after the Secure Element portion. One can get excellent results by targeting the operating system and its NFC-handling libraries." McAfee is not going so far as to recommend a solution - yet. However, as with everything else, I'm sure they have one and will let us know in the fullness of time. ( http://bit.ly/OUxbA1 )
Meanwhile, after a flurry of reports and breathless excitement courtesy of Apple announcing Passbook with a "will they, won't they?" approach to NFC, last week Apple won a patent for an NFC-enabled 'iTravel' transportation ticketing app (http://bit.ly/M0qLys ). This patent for NFC-enabled ticketing takes on additional significance: As reported in Unwired View, the disclosed "iTravel" application would handle a broad array of functions to assist with travel logistics. "The main focus of the patent is how you would use your next iPhone with NFC chip at the airport check-in. It includes loading your ID info such as picture, retinal scan and fingerprint data from modern passports with embedded radio frequency identification tags. Collecting your ticket information from reservation confirmation e-mails/notifications, or extracting reservation images via optical character recognition software, barcode-reading software, or QR-code-reading software. Providing the necessary information at the NFC equipped check-in counter, and receiving the boarding pass with luggage info in exchange. Using the stored ID to pass through airport security, etc." An interesting use of a mobile app that has depth in the secure ID field but also uses NFC as an enabling platform. Perhaps this is Apple looking into other fields while they wait for the mobile payment arena to sort it self out. Certainly the idea that Apple would happily let other competitors find and fix the bugs in a new market before they enter it makes a lot of sense and explains Apple's 'go-slow' approach to mobile payments (http://on.wsj.com/LaGDiz ).
And finally this week – the Intelligence. This month RIM is sponsoring and giving away a BlackBerry Bold 990 NFC-enabled smartphone. The details, clues, questions and how to enter can be found in the right hand column. This month as well as the Facebook entry application we have set it up so our readers can send in a quick email with the answers to be placed in the prize draw (to be held at the end of July). Please enter if you want. We've made it a easy as possible and I am sure that all our readers will be able to answer these four easy questions. Can't you?
Until next week.
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
Featured on C-ITV this week
Payments & m-Commerce
Inside Apple's Go-Slow Approach to Mobile Payments http://on.wsj.com/LaGDiz
Survey: Security Concerns Continue to Create Consumer Resistance to Mobile Payments http://bit.ly
Inside Apple's Go-Slow Approach to Mobile Payments http://on.wsj.com/NdHjk0
M6 toll road goes contactless with Barclaycard http://bit.ly/NNMsQx
Visa expects NFC boost as industry moves to commercialize mobile payments http://bit.ly/NNO4Ka
Brazil prepares law to support mobile payments http://bit.ly/NNNY58
Go to London Olympics with ASK contactless cards! http://bit.ly/NNOVdH
Mobile Wallet Make Mobile Payments Securely http://bit.ly/NNOoIR
Mobile Payments Offer Travelers Convenience, but Uptake Is Slow http://bit.ly/NNOi3Z
London's Holland House to use NFC mobile payment system http://bit.ly/N4VcFG
Square's next step: International expansion http://cnet.co/N4V8pl
Why PayPal, Amazon, and Apple Are The Leaders In Mobile Payments http://bit.ly/N4V2Ok
BWG Foods launches contactless payment into stores http://bit.ly/N4VCvx
Faster, easier and simpler Contactless Payments score a perfect 10 with YESpay http://bit.ly/PRdjPH
NFC & Mobile
Telenor reports results of Oslo NFC payments trial http://bit.ly/LaGADj
Theme park connects visitors to Facebook with NFC http://bit.ly/OUxgnk
McAfee warns on Olympic NFC fraud risks http://bit.ly/OUxbA1
Austrian city builds public library with nothing but QR codes, NFC and stickers http://engt.co/MgmQu4
Consortium Misses Deadline for Singapore NFC Launch; Project
Tests Government-Led Approach http://bit.ly/S27nCf
China Mobile preps NFC payments phone http://bit.ly/NNNU5r
Wing outlines NFC plans http://bit.ly/N4VA6W
Hands on with the Visa Olympics NFC phone http://bit.ly/N4VwUS
Transportation, Ticketing & Loyalty
Kazan public transport to enable NFC payments http://bit.ly/OUxuLl
Apple Wins Patent for NFC-Enabled 'iTravel' Transportation Ticketing App http://bit.ly/M0qLys
American Express Contactless Cards Are Now Accepted at All PATCO Gates and Parking Terminals http://bit.ly/N2dF51
Other News & Opinion Articles
Visa, MasterCard edging closer to fee pact-report http://reut.rs/LaGCuR
Report: Project Oscar, UK’s Multi-Carrier Mobile Payment JV, Could Get Regulator Nod This Summer http://tcrn.ch/OUx7R1
New IDC Financial Insights Consumer Payments Survey Reveals
Over a Third of all U.S. Residents Use Mobile Payments http://bit.ly/OUwYgo
Morpho’s new eco-friendly, 100% paper SIM available for mass market http://bit.ly/OUxr1X
MasterCard aims to defy Olympic clutter with campaign http://bit.ly/OUxT0h
Square sets lawyers on mPowa over Web site pic http://bit.ly/N4VtbG
Apple Invention Allows Smart Card to be used in iDevices http://bit.ly/N4VkoF
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