Tagstand, the YC-backed company focused on making NFC a more mainstream technology, is getting some action at a pretty big black-tie event in New York this weekend which will see its technology used to enable some nifty actions for the 3,500 guests, like tapping to tweet, posting pictures to Facebook and registering “likes” for the cocktails they’re drinking. Sounds like (kind of geeky) fun!
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Nokia has been weathering a series of glitches around the launch of its Lumia range of Windows Phone devices — the most recent of which saw the company issue credits to users affected by data connection issues around the new Lumia 900. It is pressing ahead with new devices, though, and we have confirmed with sources close to the company that it will be launching its first NFC-enabled Windows Phone in Europe, at 1pm UK time today, along with a partnership with a European operator, France Telecom’s Orange. → Read More
If you tried to judge whether NFC mobile payments are ready for prime time — based on the amount of chatter you hear in your newsfeed — you’d think the contactless technology was on the brink of ubiquitous adoption.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, there are documented sources out there citing that we are four, five, maybe even ten years away from a realistic and entrenched infrastructure that would allow the masses to make face-to-face payments using secure elements embedded in smart cards and mobile phones.
Five years. Just think about where you were five years ago. What kind of phone did you have? Where did you work? How did you communicate with others in these days of yore? Seriously, what has changed for you in that time? What has changed in your environment in that time? → Read More
YC-backed Tagstand, a company intent on helping make NFC more of a mainstream technology, is rebooting its Android app, NFC Task Launcher with a whole new feature set and user interface. The app was already one of the top NFC-based utilities in the Android Market Google Play store before coming under Tagstand’s control recently, when the app’s creator joined the team.
The company also says it saw a big uptick in demand for NFC tags when Google released the Galaxy Nexus, and it’s now selling as many tags in a day as it did during the entire month of June, when the service first launched.
The company also says it saw a big uptake in demand for NFC tags when Google released the Galaxy Nexus, and it’s now selling as many tags in a day as it did during the entire month of June, when the service first launched. → Read More
When it comes to daily deals and loyalty programs, local merchants are constantly bombarded with new options. Groupon has leapt ahead in daily deals, and there quite a few players in the loyalty program space, all trying various approaches to mobile, to rewarding influencers, to encouraging social engagement, gamification, and more.
New York-based Social Passport is taking a different approach to the problem by creating a social loyalty tool that leverages both NFC and QR codes to allow customers to interact with their favorite businesses in realtime and receive discounts, and, in turn, gives businesses access to a wider audience of potential customers through their users’ social media channels. → Read More
As we heard last week, Isis, the carrier-led joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is picking up steam in the NFC world to make these payments a reality. And we know Google has made a big bet on NFC as a payments technology. But it’s still unclear whether NFC (near field communication), which allows devices to exchange data over short distances with a wave or a tap, will become a major force. But Juniper seems optimistic that NFC payments will become a huge market in the payments world forecasting that global NFC mobile contactless payment transactions will reach nearly $74 billion worldwide by 2015.
Juniper contends that NFC is increasingly being used for the payment of goods in-store and as transport tickets; and is already over triple the expectation for 2011. Additionally, the firm says that the use of mobile devices as an alternative to credit cards and paper tickets is one of the fastest growing segments of the mobile commerce market.
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At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Visa announced a new over-the-air provisioning service for smartphones for use with Visa’s payWave mobile payments system. The service will make it easier for operators, banks and even transit operators to link Visa payment accounts to consumers’ smartphones, the company says.
Although perhaps not as exciting as news of a mobile wallet “app” in consumers’ eyes, what Visa is revealing is a key part to the underlying infrastructure that can make NFC-based mobile payments a reality.
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In addition to the updated “Explore” feature that rolled out to Foursquare’s Android and iPhone applications this week, the social discovery service also added a special feature to its Android app that sort of flew under the radar: support for NFC.
NFC, or near field communication, allows devices to exchange data over short distances, typically with a wave or a tap. In Foursquare’s Android update, NFC support has been added for the app’s Venue, Lists and Me pages. → Read More
The nominations have been tabulated and the votes are in. Over 300,000 nominations were calculated across 20 categories. Along with our partners GigaOm and VentureBeat, we are very proud to announce the finalists for 2011′s best in technology. Voting begins now.
For 2011, we’ve added some new categories. Best Location App, Best Cloud Services and Biggest Social Impact join the Crunchies ranks this year. You’ll also find Best Social App (Google+ is up against Facebook Timeline, the New New Twitter, Instagram, and Path 2.0), the NYC-dominated category of Best Shopping App, Best New Startup and the year’s best VC’s and Angel Investors. Newcomers like Task Rabbit’s Leah Busque and Keith Rabois for his angel investments (Airbnb, LinkedIn, Yammer, Path, YouTube) made the list of finalists, as well as industry favorites such as Marc Andreessen, Jack Dorsey, Mark Pincus and Ron Conway.
In addition to today’s announcement of the Finalists, we are happy to release our next batch of tickets through Eventbrite. The release begins now, so act fast and get them while you can. → Read More
Japan, one of the most advanced mobile nations in the world, doesn’t want to be a “cell phone Galapagos” anymore, at least when it comes to payments over NFC. Paying with cell phones is already ubiquitous in Japan, but now the country’s top three telcos (NTT Docomo, KDDI au, and SoftBank Mobile) are trying to switch from the Nippon-only Osaifu Keitai system to the Type A and Type B NFC standards used globally.
The problem for the carriers is that Osaifu Keitai (“Portable Wallet”), which is based on Sony’s FeliCa RFID smart card technology, isn’t compatible to the Type A and B NFC standards. Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank have set up the so-called Japan Mobile NFC Consortium to coordinate the domestic adoption of those standards with “service suppliers and handset manufacturers”. → Read More
Proximiant just launched a new service that provides digital receipts to customers of brick-and-mortar merchants. Like Square, the service involves the use of a low-cost hardware dongle that’s given away for free. But unlike Square, Proximiant leverages NFC (near field communication) to send the receipt from the cash register to the mobile phone.
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PayPal updated its Android application today and has added one notable new feature: support for NFC payments. Using NFC, or near field communication, two PayPal users with NFC-enabled phones can send and receive money using the mobile app.
The feature, which was previously announced over the summer, also includes a “Request Money” widget that can be added directly to the Android homescreen. To use the widget, you simply tap it, enter an amount and then bump phones with your friend. On your friend’s device, they’ll see the request and can then enter their PayPal password to send you the money.
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The days of scrounging in your pockets for bus fare are over, if Google and NJ Transit have anything to say about it. NJ Governor Chris Christie announced earlier today that the third largest transit system in the country has struck up a partnership to bring Google’s wireless Wallet payment system to bus routes and rail lines in the Northeast. → Read More
Over the weekend, Nokia launched a suite of casual games developed at Nokia Research Center which are meant to demonstrate how NFC can enable new forms of mobile gaming. The three new games include Nokia World Flags, Nokia Shakespeare Shuffle and Nokia Nursery Rhyme Shuffle. All can be played now on any Nokia Symbian NFC-enabled phone including the Nokia C7 Astound, C7-00, 600, 603, 700 and 701.
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Motorola has pulled back the curtains on the ELITE Silver and the ELITE Flip, a new pair of Bluetooth headsets that pack a few novel goodies into some odd-looking packages.
Both headsets, for example, are fully compatible with your NFC-capable phone (you do have one, right?). Say goodbye to fiddling with your Bluetooth menu, as all it takes to pair is a quick tap. → Read More
ThingLink, a startup that lets you add rich media tags to online images, is today announcing the launch of an internal incubator called ThingLink Labs which will be a dedicated environment to create and productize innovations in the field of image interaction.
The Labs’ first project is Rich Media Notes, a printed version of ThingLink images, which will also include NFC tags. → Read More
Paris-based Tagattitude, an electronic transactions company, is today announcing the availability of something it calls “NFC2.0,” which is a software-based NFC-like service. Similar to the technology known as NFC, or near field communication, Tagattitude’s solution also lets you make contactless transactions over short distances. But with NFC2.0, no special hardware is required, and it will work on any major smartphone platform, including Android, iOS, RIM’s BlackBerry and Nokia’s Symbian. → Read More
It was all the way back in February when RIM first promised that “many, if not most” BlackBerry handsets in 2011 will feature NFC technology. It proved true with both the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, along with the BlackBerry Curve 9350/9360/9370, and we should see plenty more where that came from.
That said, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie had one more trick up his sleeve at this week’s GITEX conference in Dubai, unveiling for the first time BlackBerry Tag. → Read More
Rumors have been floating around for a while now that Visa and Samsung had something special planned for the Olympic Games next year. With about ten months left before the games kick off in London, Visa has formally confirmed that they are building a special phone for the Olympics and that it will, in fact, have an NFC chip.
Pocket Lint confirmed the phone with Sandra Alzetta, Visa Europe’s head of innovation and new product development, at the Visa Europe Security Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. She added that the phone will be “iconic,” and packed full of special Olympics content. As far as availability goes, the phone should be on shelves before, during, and after the Olympic games globally, rather than being a UK exclusive. → Read More
While not entirely surprising, yesterday’s announcement of the new iPhone 4S did not include a mention of NFC (near field communication). Although many hoped for the inclusion of the short-range wireless technology which serves as the backbone for current and planned mobile wallet systems, Apple still has plenty of time to integrate NFC into future handsets. It’s possible that NFC will even arrive in the upcoming iPhone 5.
But will Apple’s decision to skip NFC in the iPhone 4S have an impact on today’s market? Not likely, say analysts. → Read More
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