Orange and China Mobile have signed a memorandum of understanding with the goal to accelerate the commercialization of NFC-based services by integrating standardized technical protocols into their respective service offerings. The two companies will work together to ensure the large-scale adoption of SIM-based NFC services and the availability of compatible devices in a open and…
Juniper scales back NFC growth to $110 billion in transactions by 2017; iPhone 5’s lack of NFC to blame
Juniper Research revised its forecasts for the global NFC market, significantly scaling back growth estimates for the North American and Western European markets, blaming the lack of NFC support in iPhone 5 for this. The new forecast says that by 2017, the proportion of NFC-enabled smartphones will be only marginally below previous estimates, but the…
ABI Research: NFC to come out of the trial phase next year as 285 million devices are shipped
In its latest report, ABI Research is predicting that nearly 2 billion NFC-enabled devices will ship in 2017. The lion’s share of NFC enablement will continue to be focused in the handset (smartphone) market, although other consumer electronic (CE) devices will also be included for simple pairing of devices, exchange of data and online authentication…
More leaked photos suggest new iPhone will carry NFC chip, Passbook will be a virtual wallet
We’ve had an idea of how the new iPhone would look for quite some time now. Many pictures have leaked on the internet suggesting the same industrial design with a slightly larger screen and an 8-pin dock connector. Well, just when you thought the leaks would come to an end, think again. More images of…
SingTel launches NFC contactless payments in Singapore
SingTel is launching NFC-based payments in Singapore in partnership with EZ-Link, who also introduced an EZ-Link NFC mobile application and the EZ-Link NFC website. Using the new service, SingTel customers will be able to make cashless payments by tapping supported handsets at NFC-enabled terminals at over 20,000 points of sale, including taxis, supermarkets and fast…
Panasonic grows its smart home appliance line, brings NFC enabled Android app for remote access
Panasonic is doing some pretty cool things with its smart home appliance line. The Japanese based manufacturer has announced a new Android app for home automation bringing along a range of smart appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners, and healthcare products. The new system is called Panasonic Smart App, and it is build on NFC functionality,…
Japanese company releases portable NFC keyboard for Android phones
How sick would it be if you were able to use a perfectly tailored keyboard for your NFC enabled Android phone? Well, that dream has become a reality, thanks to a Japanese company by the name of Elecom. The creative japanese keyboard uses a NFC IP-1 protocol, which lets you turn your mobile device into…
Google Wallet updated with compatibility for all major credit cards
Google Wallet just received a major update to include a feature that was preventing so many people from signing up for a long time: support for all major credit cards. Wallet users can now link their Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express cards to their Google Wallet account to easily pay from those sources. Previously,…
Juniper Research: NFC mobile payments to exceed $180 billion by 2017
Juniper Research (and many other research firms for that matter) is bullish on the prospects of NFC-based contactless payments. According to them, the NFC retail payments market will exceed $180 billion globally by 2017, which is more than a seven-fold increase over 2012. The leading regions of North America, Western Europe and Far East &…
London: NFC is too slow for us to put in the Underground
This year the city of London is hosting the Olympics, which means they’re going to invest tons of money into their infrastructure to make a lasting impression on the millions of tourists who will come and visit the old empire. The London Underground, which at close to 150 years old is one of the oldest…