Cell Phones and a Cashless Society

Fingerprint Access for Mobile Phones

October 11, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Fingerprint biometrics specialist AuthenTec has announced a new sensor measuring only 8mm by 8mm by 1.2mm that is designed to be built into the central navigation key of a mobile phone. The sensor ensures that the device's functions can only be accessed by an authorised user. To date more than 12 million mobile phones have been equipped with the company's biometric security solution, mainly in Japan.

AuthenTec products are used in more than 10 million fingerprint-enabled cell phones and mobile systems for touch-powered multi-functionality, including user navigation, personalization, and convenient security with the swipe of a finger.

Mobile Check Out Using Contactless Stickers on Cell Phones

October 11, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Mobile commerce specialist Mobile Candy Dish has joined the NFC Forum as an associate member. The company operates the Blaze Mobile Wallet, a mobile banking and bill payment service that lets customers use a contactless sticker to make payments at the point-of-sale. This week the company introduced a mobile check out service that lets customers post details of their purchases to their Facebook pages.

Third Largest Payments Processor to Offer Bling Nation’s Mobile Payments Technology to Financial Institutions Across the U.S.

October 6, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - Fifth Third Processing Solutions, the third largest payments processor in the USA, has signed an agreement with Bling Nation that will allow its financial institution customers to provide Bling-based services to consumers as a turnkey solution.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions, the third largest payments processor in the US, is to provide Bling Nation's NFC-ready contactless sticker-based mobile payments solution as a turnkey offering to its financial institution customers across the US.

"Our clients rely on our processing expertise to offer solutions that further complement their existing financial service solutions," says Royal Cole, president of financial institution services at Fifth Third Processing Solutions.

"We are excited to make this new technology available to them. We continue to identify and develop additional alternatives for our clients to differentiate and grow card products and penetration for the customers they serve."

"Not only can this solution help accomplish that and attract new customers, Bling Nation provides cardholders a new way to pay for merchandise," Cole continues.

"Fifth Third Processing Solutions lets us reach hundreds of financial institutions across the country, enabling us to expand our business quickly and allowing us to reach more consumers through a broad spectrum of potential partners," adds Meyer Malka, Bling Nation's co-CEO.

Bling Nation's technology is currently being used by small financial institutions in six US states and is undergoing extensive testing involving employees of PayPal and Facebook as well as other local consumers in the Palo Alto area of Silicon Valley.

Bling Nation's Mobile Payments Pilot Expands into Palo Alto, Stanford University, and Facebook's Offices

September 27, 2010

NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com - The Bling Nation NFC sticker trial in Silicon Valley has expanded from its beginnings at PayPal's headquarters to include the Stanford University campus, Palo Alto city services and Facebook's offices — as rumours of a major NFC play by some of Silicon Valley's leading companies begin to emerge.

Bling Nation's mobile payments pilot in Palo Alto has now expanded to include distribution of mobile contactless stickers to staff at Facebook's headquarters and to the Stanford University campus.

The City of Palo Alto has also backed the trial, enabling local residents to use their Bling Tags to pay utility bills, long-term parking bills and parking fines with plans to include city libraries, community centers and various museums in the coming months.

The expansion comes as speculation is building that a group of leading Silicon Valley companies are behind a major initiative to launch a suite of disruptive new services based on NFC technology. No names have been confirmed as yet but Google, Facebook, Apple and PayPal are being watched most closely.

Apple has filed a suite of NFC-related patents and recently hired an NFC expert as its new head of mobile commerce and PayPal is working with Bling Nation on the Palo Alto trial but, despite having much to gain from the arrival of near field communication technology, both Google and Facebook have so far kept a very low profile when it comes to NFC.

Now Google is rumoured to be about to distribute as many as eight million "custom mobile devices" to small businesses around the US, according to Techcrunch.

"These devices will allow customers to check-in and rate the businesses and perhaps even purchase items via Google Checkout."

Facebook, meanwhile, is reported to be working on a 'Facebook phone' — or, at least, is working with manufacturers to develop phones that optimise the Facebook experience on a mobile handset. And, while it is yet to make any public move towards NFC, the company is certainly aware of its potential. In April, all attendees of the company's f8 developer conference were issued with RFID tags that enabled them to check-in to various locations around the conference venue.

While there is no confirmation yet that either of these projects will have an NFC angle, the fact that they come on top of rumours of a major NFC play being planned in Silicon Valley suggest that they may. Whether Bling Nation will be the payments solution of choice for any Silicon Valley-backed NFC venture also remains to be seen. But the fact that Bling Nation's payments technology is specifically designed to reduce costs by cutting out middlemen, such as acquirers, processors and brands such as Visa and MasterCard, is likely to hold great appeal in an environment where the development and adoption of disruptive technologies is very much the order of the day...