Cell Phones and a Cashless Society

Adirondack Trust Launches Mobile Contactless Payments in New York State

March 24, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Adirondack Trust, a local bank in New York State, has introduced a mobile contactless payments service to its personal and business customers.

The bank is using Bling Nation's mobile sticker-based Community Payments Service, a closed-loop payments system that enables small, local banks to provide a low-cost payments service within their local community.

"Mobile payments are a quick, easy and secure alternative to credit cards, checks and cash for both consumers and businesses," says Charles Wait, chief executive officer of The Adirondack Trust Company. "We are very enthusiastic about the benefits of mobile payments to our community and feel that this is the right time to offer our customers a safer and more convenient way to make and accept payments."

Customers with a checking account at The Adirondack Trust Company are able to sign up for a BlingTag, a contactless sticker that is applied to the back of their mobile phone to enable mobile payments, which businesses and The Adirondack Trust Company treat as debit transactions. Once a BlingTag is adhered to their mobile phone and activated, customers can use their mobile phones to tap and pay for purchases, redeem loyalty incentives and receive transaction and account balance text messages in real-time at the point of sale.

The bank is reporting an enthusiastic response to the service from local merchants, who pay a lower transaction fee for purchases made via Bling than with traditional Visa or MasterCard-branded card transactions.

BlingTags offer a more transparent alternative than credit card companies, says Matt Tallman, co-owner of the Bread Basket Bakery.

"If I've got a $1,000 wedding cake and 3 percent of (the price) is going to go to the credit card company, that's a good percentage they're getting just to swipe that card."

For Marianne Barker, owner of Impressions, the key value is that she now receives payments overnight instead of having to wait three to four days with traditional payments systems. The new system also encourages shoppers to come downtown and support local businesses, she says.

"In addition to lower costs and more quickly clearing transactions, each business can have their own loyalty program without punch cards or cumbersome software," Wait explains. "Bling Nation tracks loyalty activities and accrued points, automatically applying them at the point of sale."

Americans' love affair with plastic is ceding to their fascination and constant use of mobile technology," says Charles Herel, Bling Nation's general manager, East region.

In Colorado, the State Bank of La Junta found that 62% of customers had used their phones to make a purchase and 23 merchants had switched their account to the bank in just the first five months after launching with Bling Nation.

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ZigBee SIMs with Built-in Antennas to Add Payments, Ticketing, P2P and Coupons to Standard Mobile Phones

March 24, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - The ZigBee Alliance has announced it has now completed development of ZigBee Telecom Services, a new standard enabling operators to offer a range of mobile proximity services to consumers using standard handsets and SIMs containing a built-in ZigBee antenna.

ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). It is designed to be simpler and less expensive than technologies such as Bluetooth and is aimed at applications that can tolerate a low data rate and where secure networking and low power consumption is an advantage.

"With ZigBee Telecom Services, consumers can use their mobile phones to pay for products and services, create their own gaming and communication networks, receive product promotional information along with discounts or coupons from retailers, and determine their location and obtain directions or information on public spaces in indoor malls and environments without the need for GPS," says the ZigBee Alliance. "In the business environment, employees can manage their authentication and access to office services and controlled areas."

The alliance has published a white paper that provides details of the technology used and potential use cases ...

VTT Video Shows NFC Social Networking Service in Action

March 24, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Finnish technical research institute VTT has produced a video showing its NFC-based social networking concept in action:

Nokia Will Launch a Range of Near Field Communications-enabled Devices in 2010

December 10, 2010

Mobile Today - Nokia is planning a major push into the Near Field Communications (NFC) market with the launch of a range of NFC-enabled devices in 2010.

The portfolio of handsets will cover both the high and low end of the consumer market, ranging from basic, entry level handsets to smartphones.

Some of the devices will be Sim-enabled, while others will run on the updated Symbian 3 platform.

The move sees Nokia step up its drive into the NFC sector, which has so far launched three such devices in the UK.

Nokia Industry Collaborations VP Mark Selby told Mobile:

‘Nokia is anticipating multiple NFC-enabled devices, which won’t all be at the high end of the market. Our plan is to see NFC in lots of devices, not just smartphones.’

Selby declined to say when or how many NFC devices Nokia plans to launch, but said he anticipated that UK consumers will be widely using NFC devices by 2012.

One source close to Nokia said:

‘In Q3 and Q4 of 2010 we will see Nokia going into NFC in a big way. They will be bringing forward a lot of phones with embedded NFC.’

Selby said Nokia’s recent decision to halve its smartphone portfolio will not impact on Nokia’s NFC plans.

‘We are still absolutely committed to NFC in terms of the devices and what is in them,’ he said.

NFC global trials, including the O2 NFC trial in 2008, had proved that ‘it is no longer about whether consumers want NFC but about when consumers will get it,’ said Selby.

Selby said NFC transactions are expected to be for small items such as a coffee or sandwiches. He pointed to the cheaper cost of buying a ticket with an Oyster card as an example of how consumers will save by using NFC.

Home Office announcement hints contactless payments not far off
O2 trial shows people want credit cards on the phone