In an article titled "Testing the limits of new banking technology", ContactlessNews reports on recent trials by US Bank of NFC-equipped mobile phones, contactless stickers, smartphone-based mobile banking and small contactless payment keyfobs.

Wright Express has announced that its multi-city NFC mobile payment pilot with Sheetz and ViVOtech has been successfully completed. According to the company, "during the trial, drivers used their Sheetz Fleet Business Advantage card loaded into their specially enabled Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phones to make fuel and convenience store purchases at hundreds of Sheetz locations by just waving their NFC mobile phones at contactless-enabled readers. Wright Express was able to authorize and process the mobile transactions as easily as those done by drivers using plastic cards." READ MORE

Nokia has announced its third fully integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Nokia 6216 classic, Nokia's first SIM-based NFC device. According to Nokia, "with NFC consumers will benefit from greater ease of use, more convenient sharing of content - such as images, weblinks, audio files or contact data - as well as secure payment and ticketing transactions, all with just one tap of the device." READ MORE

GlobalPlatform has published a new white paper titled "The GlobalPlatform Proposition for NFC Mobile: Secure Element Management & Messaging" that is intended to outline its technical contribution and commitment to the near field communication (NFC) mobile market. The paper details how GlobalPlatform Specifications are able to support all roles in the NFC ecosystem and outlines the roles and responsibilities of each player in the maintenance of an end-to-end security chain to ensure the secure management of over-the air applications between a service provider’s back office and the secure element on a chip.

MasterCard Canada, in partnership with Citi Cards Canada and Bell Mobility, has completed the first near-field communications (NFC) trial of Mobile PayPass in Canada. The four month long closed trial allowed participants to use Bell Mobility's wireless network to make purchases using their mobile device at MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations across Canada. READ MORE

Visa has announced the launch of what it is calling "the world’s first commercial Visa mobile payments service for point-of-sale transactions using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. The service marks the first time consumers can purchase an NFC-enabled mobile device off the shelf and use that device to make Visa payWave-enabled transactions at the point-of-sale instead of using their payment card." The new service is being launched first in Malaysia. READ MORE

Maxis Communications Bhd, in collaboration with Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch 'n Go, has announced the launch of Maxis FastTap - calling it "an integrated mobile payment service that utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. With the service, customers can use their Nokia 6216 Classic phones to purchase goods and services at more than 1,800 Visa payWave merchant locations as well as pay for toll, transit, parking and theme park charges at over 3,000 Touch 'n Go points nationwide." READ MORE

The CTIA's annual conference - CTIA Wireless 2009 - is being held next week (April 1-3) in Las Vegas.

There are no keynote speakers this year out of the payments industry - however, on Friday, April 3, the day is primarily devoted to an NFC/Mobile Payments and Applications Workshop developed by the Smart Card Alliance.

The workshop will be moderated by Randy Vanderhoof, Executive Director, Smart Card Alliance, and will feature industry speakers, including: Didier Serra, INSIDE Contactless; Joe Mendoza, Gemalto; Mohammad Khan, ViVOtech; Jeff Fonseca, NXP Semiconductors; and Liam Lannon, Collis.

ViVOtech has announced that it has closed an $8.6m extension to its Series C round of funding from its existing investors, bringing the total investment in its series C round to more than $40m. Separately, the company also announced that it has been awarded a key NFC-related software patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Patent number 7,469,151 was awarded on December 23rd 2008 and covers" a broad range of methods, systems and products for over the air (OTA) provisioning of credit, debit, prepaid, loyalty and other payment or non-payment cards into mobile phone devices through wireless networks or the internet." READ MORE

Gemalto and INSIDE Contactless have announced availability of a Near-Field Communications (NFC) solution fully complying with the latest ETSI standards. According to the companies,

"the solution also meets the new GSM Association "Pay-Buy-Mobile" mobile handset requirements based on the Single Wire Protocol (SWP). The new Inside MicroRead® NFC chip, combined with the Gemalto latest UpTeq 300 m-NFC SIM card embarking a Common Criteria EAL4+ security certified chip, gives handset makers and mobile operators the first fully compliant, interoperable, full-speed SWP solution - tested at 1.6 Mbps - to support proximity payments, transport and ticketing."

INSIDE Contactless has announced that it is working with Qualcomm to accelerate the growth of the Near Field Communication (NFC) handset market by jumpstarting the product development cycle, speeding time to market and significantly reducing development costs. As part of the collaboration, the two companies will develop two 3G handset reference designs-one each for UMTS and CDMA2000 networks-that combine Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem chipsets with INSIDE's MicroRead(r) multi-standard NFC chip. READ MORE

Qualcomm has announced that it has added support for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to certain chipsets in its product portfolio. "Qualcomm is helping accelerate the commercial availability of mobile handsets featuring the short-range technology and is engaged with leading NFC solutions providers to develop reference designs based on the Company's Mobile Station Modem chipsets. NFC technology is well suited for payment, mass transit, ticketing and other similar applications requiring a quick and secure contactless exchange of data between devices that are in close proximity to each other." READ MORE

In an article titled "NFC is more than just payments", Andy Williams writes for NFC News about the other applications of near-field communications - beyond payments. "What makes NFC so attractive is the wide range of applications it can support, whether it’s opening a door, logging into your computer, signing on to the Internet, or using your phone like a PDA stylus, touching points on a map or other display to gather further information or directions."

Moversa, a joint venture between NXP and Sony Corporation, has announced it will unveil its latest security chip – the Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) – at this year’s Mobile World Congress (16-19 February in Barcelona, Spain). According to the company, "the chip manages contactless smart card applications, regardless of protocols and operating systems, in Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile devices. The potential of the U-SAM will be showcased on the NTT DOCOMO stand (Stand B117, Hall 8) in a demonstration featuring how multiple applications based on different contactless technologies, can be accessed on one mobile handset." READ MORE

In an article titled "Cellphones as Credit Cards? Americans Must Wait", Leslie Berlin writes for the New York Times about why America is not on the verge of mobile payments at POS.

For that to happen, all the players will have to work together to define standards, determine revenue-sharing, expand the network of electronic readers and think through the other parts of what he calls “this 2,000-piece puzzle.”

Tyfone has announced it has completed the Beta Testing phase of its u4ia™ Secure Memory Card (SMC) technology for secure contactless mobile payments. Tyfone also announced joint system testing with its manufacturing partner NXP, the co-inventor of NFC technology and leading vendor of NFC chips. READ MORE

Sheetz convenience stores and Wright Express have announced the launch of a multi-city trial of a new technology that enables drivers to make fuel purchases at Sheetz locations using their mobile phones. READ MORE

In a press release, ABI Research has announced a new report titled "Mobile Commerce and Payments" concluding that NFC (Near Field Communication), once the leading contender among technologies that could enable mobile payments, "has developed more slowly than anticipated, and will not offer viable large-scale mobile payment solutions for at least six years. In the mean time three existing technologies - SMS, mobile Internet and downloadable mobile applications - have the potential to deliver what NFC (so far) cannot." READ MORE

Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion recently interviewed Claire Maslen, Head of NFC for O2, on the results of the recent O2 / Transport for London / Barclaycard pilot. she discusses the very positive results from the trial - particularly as it relates to using NFC for transit payments (e.g., Oyster in London) - and also why NFC for payments might not be just around the corner. The podcast is available on Dave's podcast page or in the iTunes Store.

RBC Royal Bank of Canada, Visa and Rogers Wireless have announced they are partnering for the next phase of a mobile phone payment pilot that will allow Canadians to make purchases securely at the point of sale with a wave of their mobile phone. The customer phase of the mobile phone payment pilot is expected to launch in mid-2009, following a brief employee pilot.

The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has announced that it is sponsoring and participating in the Mobile Transactions Workshop at the Mobile Internet World Conference and Expo, October 22 at 2:30 PM, at the Boston, Massachusetts Convention & Exhibition Center. READ MORE

BART, First Data and ViVOtech have released the results of an NFC-based mobile payments trial conducted in the San Francisco area from Jan. 28 to May 30, 2008 - saying it demonstrates high use when both transit fare and retail payments are combined in the same phone. READ MORE

Dave Birch's latest Digital Money Forum podcast is a classic. Dave interviews Rover van Mierlo, Director Central Logistics and Innovation of Schuitema NV, the second largest retailer in The Netherlands, about a six month NFC mobile payments trial recently concluded at the C1000 supermarkets.

The trial went beautifully - what's not to like about 98% positive customer satisfaction? But, the reality is that moving from pilot to production deployment is stalled - because the mobile operators, handset suppliers, and banks can't agree among themselves how to bring NFC mobile payments to market. Mierlo works for a major retailer who's itching to deploy NFC - but can't.

In his latest blog post, Dave Birch suggests that perhaps contactless payments isn't the application that consumers will find most attractive from NFC-equipped mobile handsets - saying "it seems highly unlikely that consumers will hammer down the doors of mobile phone shops to get NFC handsets to use for boring things like payments."

ViVOtech has announced that its NFC mobile payment wallet, Over-the-Air (OTA) payment, coupon delivery and redemption technologies are being used jointly by NETS, SingTel and United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) for an NFC mobile phone payment trial in Singapore. READ MORE

A new analysis of the NFC mobile payments opportunity by Juniper Research forecasts that "700m mobile subscribers globally will have phones equipped with NFC contactless technology by 2013. NFC will enable users to make payments with their mobile phones for relatively low value purchases (such as refreshments, tickets and food)." READ MORE

A new webinar series produced in partnership by the Smart Card Alliance and the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will hold its first webinar on the topic of "Smart Cards in Mobile Payment/Near Field Communications (NFC)" on September 25th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. Registration is available for the event at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-events-web-seminars. READ MORE

Results from recent trials of NFC mobile payments in the UK demonstrate strong interest by consumers in having that form of payment available. According to the report, "nine out of ten trialists were happy using NFC technology on a mobile phone and 78% said they would be interested in using contactless services if available."

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. READ MORE

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." READ MORE