Dear Readers,
I, for one, am looking forward to to our annual pilgrimage to Barcelona this year for the Mobile World Congress. With the congress organisers brining NFC on board as a focus technology this year, I hope to see great things. But perhaps not so many of them mobile hardware oriented. Instead, I hope to see a veritable cornucopia of NFC-inspired objects and accessories that will allow the technology to demonstrate its abilities.
And there are many. In fact, last week there were a few such gadget and accessories stories. First off, baseball caps: Capify claims that a cap is an 'extension of your personality' and as such the company see the addition of NFC tags into the caps as a natural extension. Capify's Robert Wingrove said that "…one of our key features is that people can update the tags in the hat themselves, using a web based interface that is a bit easier than tagging a tag with an app. We will be working with Flomio to develop this system off the back of their NFC Actions system." Capify is aiming at two markets for its NFC baseball caps, direct to consumer and commercial/content partnerships. In the commercial arena, for instance, the company is looking to set up deals to provide exclusive, one-off content through the cap for high visibility brands. "We plan to work with record labels, sports teams and brands to let the cap be the springboard into getting exclusive content and building a relationship with a brand. Some ideas for this would be if a record label is launching a new album they could send caps to journalists and super fans, where they can download an exclusive song from the link in the cap. Or a sports team can update the link with exclusive team news or info, or tie the cap into loyalty at their stadium where they can tap the cap and earn points when making purchases." said Wingrove. (http://bit.ly/YFyZjz).
In another related story, a team of designers are using Kickstarter to in order to rise capital to bring their anti-theft service for tablets, wallets and bags. NFC will prove the items authenticity, provenance and give access to an owners club. The Belgium-based startup Cherry On The Bag has unveiled a range of luxury leather goods that include NFC tags contained within the brand's logo, and is seeking to raise $70,000 to put them into production. The product range comprises a keychain, weekender bag, messenger bag, wallet and tablet sleeves. Prices via Kickstarter range from $50 for a keychain to $650 for a weekender bag (http://kck.st/WxQcfE).
And finally, Miami start-up Flomio has launched a new service that makes 3D printed objects that carry NFC tags. The NFC Custom 3D Printables can be produced from standard '.stl' 3D files, which can be created using three dimensional modelling templates offered by services such as Blendswap and Shapeways. Models of up to 15cm by 15cm by 15cm can be produced, at a cost of US$0.50 per cubic centimetre plus a $4 handling fee, along with the cost of the NFC tag and shipping.
(http://bit.ly/WV3uzK). This looks pretty cool - any takers?
Last week also saw the end of the joint venture between Germany-based Giesecke and Devrient and Taiwan-based Phison Electronics that was created to market microSD cards to store mobile payment applications. The investment, which NFC Times calls at €3m, (http://bit.ly/11AyhIX ) came mostly from Giesecke & Devrient but with €900K coming from Phison Electronics. The intention was to provide secure micro SD cards for NFC payments, initially with an integrated NFC antenna, then later using the phone's antenna over the Single Wire Protocol. But the industry is moving towards embedded and SIM-based secure elements, leaving NFC company Device Fidelity holding the flag for removable memory. The shelving of the plan, which involves bringing staff back in-house and ending the collaboration, isn't that surprising given the way that SD cards have fallen out of favour as secure elements, with embedded and SIM-based options, now becoming dominant.
Isis was also in the news after spokespeople for the joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile spoke at a media briefing from the Smart Card Alliance’s 2013 Payments Summit in Utah last Tuesday. Isis Chief Sales Officer Jim Stapleton said that its trial in Salt Lake City is producing positive results from both consumers and merchants. Stapleton said the average Isis user pays for goods or services with the mobile wallet five times or more a week. Stapleton added that the typical Utah Isis customer follows five different merchants using the wallet’s loyalty card and coupon features, and a customer who signs up for a business’s loyalty program tends to visit that business twice as often as a regular customer. Stapleton, however, did not say how many customers Isis actually has to date. Perhaps the reason that Isis is seeing a steady uptake in usage may be due to free fares that users of the wallet can 'cash' in on by using the Utah transit Authority. Isis Mobile Wallet users in and around Salt Lake City are tapping for transit fares with their NFC-enabled mobile phones more than 600 times a day and that number is growing, according to the UTA. Jerry Benson, chief operating officer for the Utah Transit Authority, speaking to NFC Times said that the 600-plus daily transactions from Isis Mobile Wallet users were in addition to around 400 transactions the UTA records each day from riders tapping contactless bank cards. However, Benson is reported to have also said that the contactless bank card transactions combined with the Isis wallet transactions account for fewer than 1% of total transactions on trams, trains and buses. Even with the growing Isis wallet transactions, he doesn’t expect that to top 2%. Still not the success story that Isis was hoping for, I expect.
Away from mobile applications and the big news last week was, that UK banks RBS and Natwest are to issue contactless cards to their customers (http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1jC ). Over two million eligible RBS and NatWest customers will receive a contactless card over the next year as part of the bank’s ongoing commitment to innovation and customer service. Steve Rubenstein, Director of Everyday Banking at NatWest and RBS said: “Contactless payments will offer our customers speed and convenience for low value payments, making their day-to-day shopping experience much easier, with all the security and protection of any Visa product.” Mark Austin, Vice President – Contactless at Visa Europe said: “We’re delighted to announce that RBS and NatWest will be rolling out Visa contactless cards in 2013. Many major merchants like Marks & Spencer, the Post Office and London’s buses are now accepting contactless payment as the service becomes a high street reality. We are expecting to see contactless transaction volumes quadruple in 2013 as momentum in this exciting space continues to grow.”
Talking about exciting spaces that are growing - did you see what I did there? - the Contactless and Mobile awards have taken on its biggest amount of entries ever! Over 80 entries to date from all corners of the globe and some of the most interesting uses for NFC you will ever see. From payment apps to loyalty, from newspaper vending machines to NFC business cards, from the Michelin Guide to ski lifts in Texas, from OAP mobility to NFC-based headstones for your grave, (yes - you read it correctly). There have been some amazing entries this year and we look forward to sharing their stories with you over the coming months. There is a still a little time to enter so click here before it's too late!
Until next week,
Regards,
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
This week on C-ITV
GURU POST: The need for hardware-based security on NFC platforms http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1jd
NFC Wireless wins SMARTRAC NFC tag partner competition http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1kq
CalypsoKey for NFC door control http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1ki
Visa Europe, GE Money Bank cooperate on contactless payments for the Czech Republic http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1jo
New comScore study focuses on digital wallet market potential and adoption barriers http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1jH
Over two million RBS and NatWest customers will receive Visa contactless cards in 2013 http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1jC
PayPass growth in Asia, Vietnam takes contactless payments at last http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1ju
New study includes NFC as one of key challenges for media agencies http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1k9
NXP and Barcelona Mobile World Capital Join Forces to Accelerate the NFC Market http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1k4
ShopKeep POS and LevelUp launch mobile loyalty platform for iPad POS http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1kI
Blackboard expands support to MIFARE Standard http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1kD
Visa says 'yes' to payleven chip & PIN device http://wp.me/p1Jrjn-1ky
Payments & m-Commerce
Kenya: A Cashless Society Is the Way Forward http://bit.ly/11Ay9sR
Vivo, Bradesco launch NFC m-payments pilot in Brazil http://bit.ly/11AytI5
At It Again: Apple’s Slow But Sure Reception of NFC and Mobile Wallet Payments http://bit.ly/11AynQD
Weve gains strength as Vodafone joins EE and O2's mobile commerce platform http://bit.ly/WXwx8y
Alipay sees massive growth in mobile payments in China http://bit.ly/WXwRo3
Survey Says Consumers Worry About Mobile Wallet Security. But Does That Matter? http://bit.ly/WXxHkB
Google Extends Payout Schedule For Developers By 2 Weeks, As
“New Forms Of Payment” Are Added To Google Play http://tcrn.ch/WXxBcK
Whatever Happened To Google Wallet? http://onforb.es/WXxdem
Analysis: Why Starbucks is so far ahead on mobile payment http://bit.ly/WXx2iX
NFC SD crew gives up: No one wants our safe bonking tool http://bit.ly/WXwTvY
Sequent Wallet Management Platform Selected by CIBC http://bit.ly/YCuaHJ
ICICI Bank partners Aircel for Mobile Money http://bit.ly/YCu8Q8
Isis: Salt Lake City mobile wallet users average 5 transactions a week http://bit.ly/YCuK8o
Viableware Establishes Mobile Wallet Strategy for the Full-Service Restaurant Industry http://bit.ly/YCuTIY
PayPal destroys Google Wallet, MasterCard, Square, and Visa in digital wallet study http://bit.ly/YCuRAA
Isis Seeks to Speed Adoption of Wallet in Salt Lake City with Free Rides http://bit.ly/YFyHJp
Mobile Payments: The How vs. the Who http://bit.ly/YFySEx
Commonwealth Bank Working On NFC Payments For iPhone 5 http://bit.ly/YFyOES
Korea: BD Card Unveils Barcode-based Mobile Payment Service http://bit.ly/YFyJRB
NFC & Mobile
Capify debuts NFC baseball caps http://bit.ly/YFyZjz
Cherry On unveils range of luxury leather goods with NFC http://bit.ly/YFyW7m
Flomio launches 3D printed NFC objects http://bit.ly/YFyUwh
NFC - The magic touch (from Gemalto) http://bit.ly/11k99qx
NFC – An Unavoidable Mobile App Technology in 2013 http://bit.ly/YCusy9
New EMV dates from Visa could have broader implications for NFC http://bit.ly/YCuOVC
AFSCM reports 2.5m Cityzi NFC phones in France http://bit.ly/YCuMgw
Gema debuts multi-chip NFC super tag with built-in keyboard http://bit.ly/YCuLsR
Wii U NFC: 'We'll have something to show by the end of the year,' says Iwata http://bit.ly/YCuW7t
My top 5 requests to Handset Manufacturers to consider when implementing NFC http://bit.ly/125m7mW
France gears up for mobile NFC services http://bit.ly/125kBRQ
Transportation, Ticketing, Access, Security & Loyalty
Passengers fleeced by myki machines cash grab http://bit.ly/11AybkA
Contactless Transportation and Ticketing Market Update http://bit.ly/WXvfdP
London bus contactless system charging wrong cards http://bbc.in/WXuO3i
Xiamen traffic police launch trial of smart parking service http://bit.ly/YCuGFF
Caen to get NFC tickets http://bit.ly/YFyIwX
Dubai: Pay by Nol or credit card on taxis http://bit.ly/125ls4Y
Lufthansa ditches voucher system for Citi pre-paid loyalty card http://bit.ly/125kVzM
Other News & Opinion Articles
Secure MicroSD Venture Led by Giesecke & Devrient Liquidates http://bit.ly/11AyhIX
Cubic Board names CEO; makes changes to its Executive Management Team http://bit.ly/11AyxaW
CreditCall, MasterCard, PayPal, Intuit Outline Mobile Payment
Opportunities and Challenges at Apps World 2013 http://bit.ly/WXwOZm
SIMalliance Publishes UICC Device Implementation Guidelines for Device Makers and MNOs http://bit.ly/WXwCJC
Weve appoints former Travelex man to lead mobile commerce joint venture http://bit.ly/YCumqd
Electronic Payments Stimulate Economic Growth According to New Study http://bit.ly/125kQw6
Panel: Mobile payments could reach $1 trillion by 2015 http://bit.ly/125kIwC
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