Transforming Mobile Phones into 'Digital Wallets' is Top Priority for Banks, Mobile Carriers and Online Payment Services

‘Mobile Wallet Solutions Are Our Top Priority’ Says PayPal Boss

August 17, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - PAYPAL: Ready to square up to Visa and MasterCard?

PayPal president Scott Thompson has revealed that moving the online payments service into the retail arena is now the company's top priority.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Thompson said in an interview that the company's top priority "is to develop software that transforms mobile phones and other devices into 'digital wallets' that consumers can use to buy merchandise, keep coupons and store loyalty program data."

Some of the software to do that is expected to be unveiled at a PayPal conference as early as October this year, the report continues.

The news follows the launch of a trial in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley which enables both local consumers and all of PayPal's 2,000 headquarters staff to use Bling Nation's mobile contactless payments solution to make purchases at a range of local merchants.

Bling Nation's technology is specifically designed to reduce transaction processing costs by cutting out middlemen such as acquirers, processors and brands such as Visa and MasterCard. The technology is also NFC-ready, meaning that it will work with phones equipped with near field communication technology as soon as they become widely available.

Consumers participating in the trial can pick up a contactless sticker from any participating merchant. They then visit Bling Nation's website to link the sticker's ID number to their PayPal account and affix the sticker to the back of their mobile phone. To make a payment, they simply tap their phone at the point of sale. Transaction details are then forwarded to a back office processor which approves the transaction, debits the consumer's PayPal account and credits the merchant's account — all in real time.

Consumers then receive an SMS text message confirming the transaction details and providing the current balance on their account.

To begin accepting the new payments solution, merchants need a PayPal Business account and a BlingBox, a pack containing a stand-alone terminal, stickers that they can distribute to their customers and a range of promotional materials. The box usually costs US$149.95 but 150 units are being made available free of charge for the trial.

Apple Hires NFC Expert as Mobile Commerce Product Manager

August 13, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Apple has hired an expert in near field communication technology as its new product manager for mobile commerce.

Benjamin Vigier has been working on NFC technology since 2004 and has been responsible for NFC activities at both French mobile network operator Bouygues Telecom and flash memory manufacturer Sandisk.

Most recently Vigier was product manager for mobile wallet, payment and NFC at US mobile payments specialist mFoundry. There he conceived and managed both the PayPal Mobile service and Starbucks' barcode-based mobile payments service and was also responsible for the development of mobile wallet applications for two top US mobile network operators and an NFC wallet application for a top three US bank.

A barrage of NFC-related Apple patent applications have been published over the last few months. They cover a wide range of potential NFC application areas and include:

• An NFC-based mobile payments service that lets consumers make payments to merchants and other consumers via a credit or debit card, directly from their bank account or using credit stored in their iTunes account.


• The 'iPay, iBuy and iCoupons' patents, describing a comprehensive mobile payments, mobile commerce and mobile marketing business based around an NFC-enabled iPhone.


• Products+, an NFC-based product marketing and promotions application.


• An airline ticketing and boarding pass application that describes an unmanned, automated airport ticketing and baggage counter kiosk and introduces the concept of an automated security checking process where users of the iTravel app could process themselves through the security clearance system and check themselves in at the boarding gate.


• The Grab & Go patent, designed to make it easy for customers to transfer files between devices such as the Mac, iPhone and Apple TV.


• An NFC-enabled iPod, games controller, TV and iPhone.


• An NFC-based concert, entertainment and sports venue ticketing application that includes exclusive bonus features for users of Apple's service.

Exactly what mobile commerce products Vigier will be working on at Apple are, of course, not yet in the public domain — and Vigier declined to comment about his new role when NFC World contacted him today. Given that he has had so much experience with mobile money applications, however, the choice of Vigier to product manage mobile commerce does, at least, point towards a continued interest at Apple in taking at least some of these patent applications from concept to commercial reality.

Texas Community Banks Deploy Bling Nation's Mobile Payment Stickers

August 18, 2010

Contactless News - American National Bank and Guaranty Bond Bank in Mt. Pleasant, Texas are now offering tap and go mobile payment to their customers and the community through Bling Nation.

Customers with a checking account at either bank can sign up for a BlingTag, a quarter-sized microchip sticker that adheres to the back of their mobile phone to enable debit transactions directly from their account.

Each time a purchase is made using a BlingTag, the consumer receives a transaction confirmation and account balance by text message. Since the BlingTag does not store any personal information, it offers more security than traditional plastic cards and reduces the risk of identity theft and fraud, according to Bling Nation.

“We chose Bling Nation because they offer a win-win-win product—banks and merchants win by reducing costs, consumers win by accumulating rewards each time they use their BlingTags, and community wins when more money is spent locally,” said Martin Bell, executive vice president of Guaranty Bond Bank.

Twinlinx to Begin Shipping MyMax NFC Stickers in September

August 13, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - The first 10,000 MyMax stickers, which enable full NFC functionality to be added to any Bluetooth mobile phone, are now in production and field trials are expected to take place before the end of this year.

The first volume production run of French start-up Twinlinx's MyMax stickers is now underway, with a total of 10,000 units due to be delivered during the course of September, October and November.

Bouygues Telecom is set to field test 1,000 stickers in Nice, as part of the French Cityzi project, and several thousand more will be delivered to Morpho which, under its previous trading name of Sagem Orga, signed a deal with Twinlinx last year to offer the stickers to its customers under the SIMply Mobile Wallet brand name.

MyMax stickers are able to communicate with both contactless readers via NFC and with the phone via Bluetooth, enabling full NFC capability to be added to any Bluetooth handset, including over-the-air provisioning and management.

The stickers incorporate three separate chips plus an on-board battery to power the Bluetooth circuitry. The first handles the device's contactless interface, the second handles the Bluetooth interface with the mobile phone and the third acts as the secure element. And, because the secure element is separate to the other chips, MyMax issuers are free to choose which chip they want to use for the secure element. These include a wide range of standard contactless smart card chips that can support multiple applications and have already passed Visa/MasterCard certification processes.

MyMax stickers currently cost between €30 and €40 but, Twinlinx's CEO Jacek Kowalski has told NFC World, the price is expected to drop to between €20 to €25 from 2011. A custom chip which is currently under development should then see the cost fall to around €10 in 2012.

Development kits are available today while orders placed now for volume quantities of MyMax stickers suitable for field testing will be ready for delivery by November.

Cashless Vendor Reaches Milestone with JumpStart Program

August 18, 2010

Contactless News - USA Technologies announced that it has delivered more than 20,000 ePort cashless payment terminals to customers under its JumpStart program.

JumpStart was originally launched in January 2010 to help vending operators and bottlers acquire USA Technologies’ ePort EDGE cashless terminal at no cost, paying only a monthly service fee and avoiding the need to make a major upfront capital investment. According to USA Technologies, the ePort EDGE is the only one-piece cashless reader and controller combo on the vending market with PCI Level One compliant security.

While the ePort EDGE accepts swipe cards only, USA Technologies has recently expanded the program to include its ePort G8 terminal, which accepts contactless cards in addition to traditional magnetic swipe cards.

Under the JumpStart program, customers keep the JumpStart devices as long as they are activated on USA Technologies’ ePort Connect Service. JumpStart includes the ePort Connect services package for wireless connectivity, card processing, consumer services, online reporting, machine alerts and over-the-air (OTA) software upgrade capability.

As of June 30, there were over 82,000 devices connected to the ePort Connect service, and USA Technologies expects to reach its goal of 100,000 devices by Dec. 31.

Visa Issues Contactless Cards to Youth Olympics Attendees

August 17, 2010

Contactless News - Spectators attending the first ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this month are being issued Visa pre-paid cards that act as tickets, transport passes and payment cards, according to finextra.com.

The cards, which will be the only means of admittance to Youth Olympic events, come equipped with contactless EZ-link functionality, allowing holders to use free public transportation to event venues.

Additionally, the cards allow holders to make purchases at any place that accepts Visa, including Youth Olympic venues.

After the completion of the Games, the cards can be used as a regular transit and reloadable pre-paid card, topped up online at the DBS site, at ATMS and select SingPost branches.

Multicard, Rabobank Roll Out Contactless Mobile Payment Stickers

August 16, 2010

Contactless News - Bangkok Smartcard System (BSS) has contracted Australia’s Vix ERG to supply its MASS clearing house solution for micropayments as part of the company’s greater move to direct Bangkok towards a cashless society.

The system will support a payments solution for the Bangkok Mass Transit System Company Limited (BTSC) and Bangkok Metro Company Limited (BMCL) transit systems. Over time the system will be extended to provide support for other transit modes and to support micropayments in Bangkok, said Nelson Leung, Executive Director of BSS.

The clearing house solution has been implemented in 11 cities in five countries around the world, most notably in Beijing, China where the system currently processes over 9 million transactions per day.