According to the Smart Card Alliance Contactless Payments Council, "eighty-six percent of industry stakeholders believe NFC-based proximity payments will be adopted, and it will happen with a “Collaboration Model,” bringing together banks, mobile operators, merchants, handset manufacturers and other service providers. The Council has published a new research report detailing its findings including various stakeholders’ opinions on potential new sources of revenue from advertising, loyalty and rewards, co-branding arrangements, and customer fees for new services.   » Continue Reading

Cardbeat, a syndicated market research report from Auriemma Consulting Group, reports that "contactless credit cards that allow cardholders to wave-and-pay at checkout terminals fitted with contactless technology sensors is not yet the smash-hit that industry leaders had expected." According to the report, "consumers have indicated that contactless technology is not an easy sell. In light of the credit crunch, and increasing insecurity about the risk of identity theft, consumers need additional encouragement to acquire a new card – even if it features a compelling new technology."   » Continue Reading

Juniper Research has released a new analysis of the NFC mobile payments opportunity forecasting that "the gross transaction value of payments made via NFC contactless technology, for relatively low value purchases (such as refreshments, tickets and food), will exceed $75bn globally by 2013."

But, in a cautionary note about the rosy forecast, the report notes that "the industry as a whole will need to convince both consumers and merchants of the merits of yet another payment mechanism on top of cash, cheques, credit and debit cards, and to allay understandable (even if unfounded) fears and scepticism about the security of The Mobile Wallet."   » Continue Reading

In his column this week titled "A Primer on Smart Cards", David Pogue writes for the New York Times about smart cards - saying that "smart cards have always fascinated me, especially when I read about their potential for streamlining small cashless purchases." Pogue interviews Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

Gemalto has announced that five banks in France are currently using its Allynis service as part of the "Payez Mobile" trial for contactless mobile payment: BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole-LCL, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, Caisse d’Epargne and La Banque Postale Groups.

According to Gemalto, "the Pegasus group, which consists of seven major banks and four mobile operators in France, launched the program in November 2007 with 1,000 user clients and 200 merchants in Caen and Strasbourg. The renewal of the Gemalto service contract until the end of 2008 reasserts its recognition as a trusted third party among the various parties involved in the mobile NFC ecosystem."   » Continue Reading

Visa has announced "significant milestones in the adoption of Visa’s contactless technology feature, Visa payWave, demonstrating continued global momentum for the technology around the world. Visa payWave-enabled cards allow consumers to simply “wave and go” making every day transactions faster and more convenient."   » Continue Reading

The Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Action and Consumers Union last Friday submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission on its upcoming Town Hall meeting on the subject of contactless payments and implications for consumer payments policy. The Town Hall meeting, "Pay on the Go - Consumers & Contactless Payments", will be held in Seattle on July 24th and is co-sponsored by the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic at the University of Washington.   » Continue Reading

Chris Skinner blogs about London's Oyster card issued by Transport for London. He writes: "The benefits of the programme are multiple in terms of streamlining travel, reducing queues, minimising cash handling, reducing the possibility of fraud by customers and cash theft by staff, and generally improving the customer experience. Having said that, the biggest benefit is the £60 million reduction in annual operating costs for TfL of the ticketing system since implementing the Oystercard."

The Smart Payment Association has announced results of its 2007 global payment cards market survey finding that more than 420 million payment smart cards were delivered by SPA members, a 24% growth year over year (2007 vs. 2006), both dual interface and pure contactless grew 64% year over year, with the fastest growing region being the Americas with a 45% growth year over year.   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has announced publication of a new white paper, "Serving Unbanked Consumers in the Transit Industry with Prepaid Cards” , that examines how transit agencies can serve "unbanked" or "underbanked" individuals, including both the traditional approach of establishing retail sales outlets for fare media and a potential new approach of using network-branded prepaid cards.   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance has begun offering a new online course titled "Fundamentals of Smart Card Technology". The online training course takes about six hours to complete and costs $99 per participant.

The Emerging Payments Research Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published a new paper titled "The Contactless Wave: A Case Study in Transit Payments" by Nasreen Quibria, Senior Payments Industry Consultant.   » Continue Reading

U.S. Bank has announced it has partnered with Visa to issue debit cards with the Visa payWave feature to debit cardholders in California, Colorado, Missouri, and Utah.   » Continue Reading

In a post titled "Attacks on NFC mobile phones demonstrated", Dancho Danchev writes for ZDNet on last week's presentation by Collin Mulliner at the EUSecWest conferece in London.

SCM Microsystems has announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sony Corporation to develop and supply FeliCa contactless card readers for international markets. Under the arrangement, SCM will develop its own line of FeliCa products targeting the enterprise, mobile and banking markets.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Canada has announced it conducting a four month trial of Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled phones with MasterCard PayPass capability on Bell Mobility's wireless network.   » Continue Reading

Saying that they "forecast that transportation applications will be essential to the take-off of NFC services on mobile phones", Gemalto has announced that it has been selected by TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), a telecom operator in Italy, to support the launch of an new NFC (Near Field Communication) program in Trento that enables transport applications embedded in the SIM cards to allow TIM customers to use their mobile phone as a convenient access and payment device for public transportation.   » Continue Reading

New survey results announced by Capital One Canada find that "individual Canadians spend more than 115 hours - almost five days - each year waiting in line and paying for daily purchases" - and that contactless payments can help save between 28 and 46 hours of that time.   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance published a press release this morning with some highlights from the CTST 2008 conference now underway in Orlando - saying that 'the buzz was about mobile payment and near field communication (NFC) on the first day of the joint Smart Card Alliance annual meeting and CTST conference.'   » Continue Reading

INSIDE Contactless has announced that shipments of its MicroPass intelligent payment platform for contactless payment cards has surpassed 50 million units. According to the company, 'MicroPass is used to power more certified card products than any other contactless technology, providing issuers with broad choices for card manufacturing. Its low power and high performance, combined with the industry's fastest transaction time and outstanding read distance, enables MicroPass to deliver a superior cardholder experience for a broad range of innovative uses.'   » Continue Reading

The Federal Trade Commission and the Technology Law and Public Policy clinic at the University of Washington Law School have announced they will be holding a one-day Town Hall meeting entitled “Pay on the Go: Consumers and Contactless Payment" to be held July 24 in Seattle to explore emerging uses of contactless payment devices and their implications for consumer protection policy. According to FTC, the Town Hall follows up on its November 2006 forum, “Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade,” which examined the key technological and business developments that will shape consumers’ experiences in the coming decade.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced that in Canada it has increased its purchase threshold limit for PayPass Tap & Go purchases to $50 across all retail categories, including quick serve restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, movie theatres and convenience stores.   » Continue Reading

Global Payments has announced that Pioneer Petroleums, one of Ontario's largest independent gasoline retailers, is now accepting MasterCard PayPass contactless card acceptance. The service, which allows consumers to pay for goods and services with the simple tap of their payment card, is available at more than 140 Pioneer locations across Ontario.   » Continue Reading

CTST 2008, the largest payment, security and identification conference in the Americas, is being held this year May 12th through 15th at the Orange County Convention Center West, in Orlando, Fla. International industry leaders presenting during the Mobile and NFC Track include: 3G Americas, Aite Group, Authentec, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cassis International, Cellular South, Citibank, FireThorn, First Annapolis Consulting, First Data, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Infineon Technologies, Inside Contactless, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, NXP Semiconductors, Sprint Nextel, StoLPaN, Venyon, ViVOtech and Vodafone.   » Continue Reading

Stimulated by an American Banker interview with Wachovia's card chief Steve Boehm, David Evans posts on the Catalyst Code blog about contactless payments: "Contactless – like smart cards – is unfortunately a technology in search of a business model to support it."

Javelin Strategy & Research has released a new report titled 'Contactless Strategy & Forecast' ( Preview) that reports findings about how contactless technology will become mainstream for payment card transactions. According to Javelin, the report 'highlights how the promotion of non-network payment products will drive acceptance, thwart competition and pave the path for what card networks and issuers consider to be the eventual goal — mobile payments. In turn, the technologies and strategies described in the report will lead to radical changes in personal finance for every consumer, merchant and financial institution.'   » Continue Reading

Forrester's Benjamin Ensor and Alexander Hesse have published a new report titled "NFC Technology Is Revitalizing Mobile Payments". While that title certainly sounds optimistic, their subtitle adds a bit more drama: "But Mobile Contactless Payments Face Huge Adoption Hurdles". From the abstract: "But technology isn't the main barrier to wider mobile payment adoption in developed markets. Mobile contactless payment systems based on the NFC standard face many of the same adoption hurdles as other new payment systems."

Barclaycard has announced plans to issue over one million contactless cards this year across the UK. Barclaycard began issuing contactless enabled cards in London in September 2007 with the launch of Barclaycard OnePulse, the 3-in-1 card featuring Oyster, credit and contactless payment functions.   » Continue Reading

SCM Microsystems has announced the SCL3710 NFC reader, a USB dongle which enables a variety of contactless applications using mobile electronic devices. 'The reader can be used to enable contactless transactions for merchants. When inserted into a PC or notebook that is connected to a system such as a Point of Sale (PoS) terminal, vending machine, access terminal or parking meter payment device, the SCL3710 dongle communicates contactlessly with consumers’ NFC-enabled devices to support contactless transactions.'   » Continue Reading

Washington Mutual has announced that it 'expects to issue 12-15 million Debit MasterCard with PayPass cards in 2008, making it the nation’s largest issuer (as of Q42007). WaMu launched Debit MasterCard with PayPass nationwide in January, offering the card to new customers opening its signature WaMu Free Checking account, as well as to all WaMu Small Business customers. In March, the bank began issuing Debit MasterCard with PayPass to customers whose debit cards are renewing.'   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch writes on the Digital Money Forum blog about what he's learning about business cases for NFC. Dave says that "retail e-payment strategy is, in the long run, mobile payment strategy which is, in the short run, contactless payment strategy."

Robin Sidel reports for the Wall St. Journal on American Express' plans to discontinue its 'Express Pay' contactless keyfob. An Amex spokesman says that they've found their customers prefer to use contactless in the traditional card form factor, not in a keyfob.

In the UK, EAT, Commidea Ltd and Barclaycard Business have announced that EAT, a sandwich, soup and coffee shop, has become the first retailer in the UK to introduce a fully integrated contactless payment system. Using Commidea’s Ocius Chip & PIN solution with contactless technology, Eat will now be able to process both Visa (Paywave) and MasterCard (Paypass) contactless transactions for its customers using Barclaycard Business as their merchant acquirer.   » Continue Reading

USA Technologies and ViVOtech have announced entering into an agreement by which ViVOtech would provide 25,000 contactless/magstripe card readers for USAT’s ePort technology.   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch writes on the Digital Money Blog about a presentation given by Julian Niblett of Boots, one of the UK's largest retailers, at the New Payments Channels conference in London. Interestingly, Boots studied where in their stores contactless made economic sense, and where it didn't. But, perhaps even more interesting were Niblett's comments on the costs of cash acceptance vs. the cost of cards.

The Smart Card Alliance’s first annual Payments Councils Summit held recently in Salt Lake City, Utah, reviewed the growth of contactless financial and transit payment markets in the US.   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a new white paper titled "Co-Branded Multi-Application Contactless Cards for Transit and Financial Payment" that describes "an approach that leverages co-branded card marketing programs and the multi-application capabilities provided by smart card technology. The white paper is intended for mass transit agencies that are considering implementing a new contactless fare payment program or enhancing an existing program through collaboration with the financial community. It is also intended for financial payment card issuers, processors, and service providers who are considering working with mass transit agencies."   » Continue Reading

The Smart Card Alliance has published an FAQ on contactless payment security that applies "only to contactless payment using contactless smart card technology, as implemented by American Express, MasterCard and Visa." A PDF version is also available.

Union Bank of California has announced it will be providing its banking customers with MasterCard PayPass contactless payment technology on their debit cards. To be issued over the next several months, nearly one million Union Bank debit cardholders eventually receive new contactless debit cards.   » Continue Reading

INSIDE Contactless has announced the MicroPass 4000 contactless microprocessor family, calling it "a next-generation platform designed to bring a host of new contactless applications to mainstream markets in the U.S. and elsewhere, with two initial product offerings intended for contactless payment applications."   » Continue Reading

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has announced it will "partner with NJ TRANSIT to undertake an eight-month pilot test that will allow customers to use contactless bank cards, key fobs, cell phones and other devices to pay for transit. The test will help determine if customers could ultimately use these devices to pay fares on all of the region's transit systems, including New York City's subways and buses." Contactless payment will be available exclusively to MasterCard PayPass customers during the initial two months of the test and to other bank-issued contactless card customers for the balance of the test period.   » Continue Reading

JCB and CASSIS International have announced an agreement to collaborate in a test of NFC over-the-air (OTA) services. The two companies will jointly demonstrate end-to-end secure contactless payment issuance services for NFC mobile phones.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'The Hands-Free Way to Steal a Credit Card', Robert Vamosi writes for CNET.com about a demonstration given yesterday in which 'Adam Laurie, a RFID security expert, demoed a new Python script he's working on to read the contents of a Smart chip-enabled credit card.'

Dynamic Card Solutions has introduced contactless card personalization - "allowing financial institutions to maintain the customer and revenue benefits of instant issuance while capitalizing on one of the card industry’s new growth opportunities."   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Worldwide and USA Technologies have announced the expansion of ePort cashless payment terminals to 17,500 vending machines nationwide, adding more than 4,000 new locations that accept MasterCard PayPass contactless payments.   » Continue Reading

Gartner has announced results of a survey of 4,500 online U.S. adults, conducted in August of 2007 that concludes that while banks and credit card issuers have put significant efforts into marketing contactless and signature-based debit card payments, they have failed to win over consumers. Gartner found that "consumers prefer alternative payment types that earn banks less revenue, but which consumers believe are more secure." In, particular, PIN-based debit and not signature debit. Gartner also found little consumer interest in contactless or mobile payments.   » Continue Reading

Aite Group has published a new report, "Contactless Payments and NFC in the United States: Beyond Science Fiction" in which it estimates that, In the absence of increased incentives by card networks, merchant penetration of contactless payment will only increase from 0.5% today to 2.5% by 2014.   » Continue Reading

U.S. Bank, MasterCard Worldwide and Nokia have announced a mobile payments pilot program in Spokane, Washington using new Nokia mobile phones equipped with MasterCard PayPass payment functionality allowing consumers "to pay for purchases with a tap of their mobile phone, instead of sliding a card through a magnetic stripe reader, handing it over to the cashier, or fumbling for cash and coins."   » Continue Reading

Monitise has announced the launch of MoniTrust, a platform for Near Field Communication (NFC) payments and ticketing.   » Continue Reading

First Hawaiian Bank has announced it has begun issuing MasterCard PayPass contactless debit cards provided by Giesecke & Devrient. "The Bank’s Priority Rewards MasterCard PayPass debit cards, powered by INSIDE Contactless’ MicroPass intelligent hardware technology, enhance the Bank’s traditional card offering and offer a secure and convenient payment method. G&D has delivered the contactless debit cards, as well as traditional magnetic stripe credit and debit cards, for First Hawaiian Bank card programs."   » Continue Reading

MasterCard Worldwide has announced that "The Paradies Shops, the nation's leading airport concessionaire, expects to accept MasterCard PayPass contactless payment transactions at its more than 500 retail store locations throughout the U.S. and Canada by late 2008."   » Continue Reading

ViVOtech has announced that its "ViVOnfc infrastructure software for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phone payments is being used by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its first NFC mobile phone payment launch in conjunction with MasterCard at the MasterCard Masters Golf Tournament."   » Continue Reading

NCR in partnership with ViVOtech has announced a suite of contactless payment terminals for the point of sale (POS) that "enable mobile and contactless payment at a variety of customer touch points, including retail checkout, restaurant drive-thru and the diner’s table."   » Continue Reading

Oberthur Card Systems is predicting that "the smart card will become a mainstay of American wallets in 2008. Smart cards are equipped with embedded integrated circuits that enable the processing of information. Oberthur is the largest producer of contactless cards in the U.S. and currently 17 of its top 20 customers, as well as the federal government, have embraced microprocessor chip cards. This will put pressure on the last adopters of the technology who may risk the loss of market share unless they migrate to smart cards in 2008."   » Continue Reading

A Japanese inventor, Shigeru Arisawa of Tokyo, was issued US patent 7,311,246 on Dec. 25 for a "method and system of transmitting electronic value information between terminals." The patent has been assigned to Sony Corporation.   » Continue Reading

Celent has published a new report titled "Electronic Money: Contactless Payment in Japan".

MasterCard Worldwide has announced "the issuance of the 20 millionth MasterCard PayPass device globally."   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced the launch of a prepaid reloadable travel card with travel industry data and financial solution provider Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC). The MasterCard Travel Card, which is available through ARC's network of more than 20,000 U.S. travel agent locations, features MasterCard PayPass contactless functionality in addition to the traditional magnetic stripe. MasterCard says "it is the first prepaid travel card offering in the U.S. to be equipped with contactless technology, a sign of the continued advancement of the category in the face of increased cardholder demand."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'One More Thing Cellphones Could Do: Replace Wallets', Dan Fost writes for USA Today about using mobile phones for payments. "It's relatively easy to make cellphones very secure devices," said Allen Weinberg, managing partner at Glenbrook Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif., financial services and electronic payments consulting firm. He said the encryption is "as good as or better than what you do with an ATM or at-home banking. No one is going to pick up your phone and start moving money around the world. It's just not going to happen."

The GSM Association has announced that, over the next several months, 12 mobile operators will run trials of contactless mobile payment services in Australia, France, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.S. as a precursor to commercial launches.   » Continue Reading

Visa has announced "mobile payment trials in Brazil, Canada and Malaysia based on the Visa mobile platform. The trial in Brazil is testing mobile remote payments, while trials in Canada and Malaysia will test mobile Visa payWave transactions at contactless acceptance locations."   » Continue Reading

In a post titled "Fingering Suspects", Dave Birch writes about the use of biometrics for payments - nothing that "the rapid acceptance of contactless payment cards by the incumbents essentially usurped the speed/convenience argument [of biometrics] away."

Blackboard and Sony have announced "a partnership to support Sony FeliCa contactless technology in the Blackboard Commerce Suite, a family of applications supporting one-card transactions on-campus, off-campus and online and allowing for identification, payment and access."   » Continue Reading

GlobalPlatform has announced that its core device specification – also known as the GPD/STIP Specification – has been deployed in China through the Blue Bamboo H50 Terminal in the recent launch of the Beijing transit card contactless micro-payments scheme.   » Continue Reading

BMO Bank of Montreal has announced it is adding MasterCard PayPass to its Mosaik MasterCard cards. BMO says it is "the first credit card issuer among the big six banks in Canada to integrate "Tap & Go" technology into a credit card..."   » Continue Reading

According to the Smart Card Alliance, "the vigorous take up of contactless payment in the United States and its future in mobile phones, plus a Mount Sinai Medical Center initiative to give patients control of their own health and hospital registration information, highlighted the Alliance's annual conference."   » Continue Reading

Aneace Haddad blogs about Welcome's SPICED card applet that enables contactless cards (and mobile devices with embedded contactless payment functionality) to interact with merchant acceptance devices to generate unique 1:1 consumer marketing messages at POS. All Visa payWave contactless cards in Asia will soon be equipped with this new applet.

On the Digital Money Forum blog, Consult Hyperion's Dave Birch writes about "Where next for UK Cards?" and muses about the issues - security, privacy, disabling a FOB, etc - associated with contactless payments.

Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson writes: At Glenbrook, we often conclude one of our Payments Boot Camps with an informal poll of participants on their favored cash replacement form factor (mobile phone, fingerprint, etc.) At a private payments workshop in San Francisco last week, we were surprised by the strength of that group's response in favor of fingerprint. We decided to test it out (still pretty informally!) with a quick Facebook poll.   » Continue Reading

Gemalto has announced a partnership with Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications Ltd. to implement "Asia’s first mobile contactless SIM-based NFC (Near Field Communications) trial. The trial, which will start in November and be rolled out in phases, is part of the GSM Association’s 'Pay-Buy Mobile' initiative which seeks to define a common global approach to using NFC technology to link mobile devices with payment and contactless systems."   » Continue Reading

Joanna Pachner writes for Canada's Globe and Mail about contactless payments - saying that "perhaps the real breakthrough will happen with the next generation of contactless technology, already growing fast in Asia: mobile commerce, employing a new generation of cellphones equipped with near-field communication (NFC) chips."

Visa has announced the availability of the Visa Micro Tag, a new key fob payment device embedded with Visa payWave, Visa's contactless technology feature. The Visa Micro Tag is designed to easily attach to a key ring, and allows cardholders to pay by simply waving their Visa Micro Tag in front of a contactless payment terminal without the need to physically swipe or insert the device into a point-of-sale terminal.   » Continue Reading

Visa has released an update regarding the adoption of its Visa payWave contactless-based payments around the world. Visa payWave allows cardholders to wave their card in front of contactless payment terminals without the need to physically swipe or insert the card into a point-of-sale device.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'New card is small change", Jill Papworth reports for The Guardian about Barclaycard's new OnePulse "touch and pay" card that also includes Oyster capability for paying on Transport for London's services. She writes "the all-in-one card will allow Londoners to buy newspapers and coffee, then jump on the tube without ever using cash."

In a longer article titled "The plastic replacement for your loose change", James Charles writes for The Times about the new contactless technology. He notes that "by the end of next year Apacs, the UK payments association, expects five million contactless cards to have been issued in the UK."

Marilyn Alva writes for Investor's Business Daily about Verifone and how it's benefiting from wireless POS equipment sales in support of expansion of card acceptance into new segments such as taxis in New York City.

In an article titled 'Did Radio (Waves) Kill The Biometric Star?", Evan Schuman writes on his Storefront Backtalk blog about how "contactless payment and mobile payment efforts seem to have stunted the growth of retail biometrics." He notes that "the surprisingly rapid acceptance of contactless payment credit cards essentially usurped the speed/convenience argument away from the biometric people."

JCB has announced the launch of the Breeze Center JCB Card with the J/Speedycontactless payment program in alliance with Union Bank of Taiwan (Union Bank). According to JCB, "this will be the first card with J/Speedy in the world. J/Speedy allows customers to pay quickly and easily by simply tapping the card - no signature is required."   » Continue Reading

The BBC reports on the UK launch of MasterCard's PayPass contactless technology. "The UK roll-out has begun at some London retailers with newsagents and cafes among the first to use the so-called "contactless" technology."