It’s more than just payments

A new NFC technology coming out of Finland will enable individuals, by touching their phone to a tag, to let Facebook friends know where they are.

Called Hot in the City, or HIC for short, it is the world’s first phone-operated NFC technology solution for social media, says its inventor, Tuomo Tuikka, senior research scientist for the non-profit VTT Technical Research Center in Oulu, Finland.

The name came from the original use of this system, says Tuikka. “We thought that restaurants would be the first obvious place for you to see where your friends are, then you know that is the best place to go. The name stuck, and we never really tried to rename the service even though we realized the connection with Billy Idol’s song,” he adds.

Juniper Research has just published a report predicting “massive growth” for mobile ticketing by 2014, according to Mobile Marketing Watch. The report states that some 15 billion mobile tickets will be in use by 2014, compared to the current mark of 2 million.

As of now, the Far East and China regions are leading the way in mobile ticketing, but Juniper predicts that Western Europe will take the lead by 2014, due to advancements in device integration.

Gemalto announced that it has acquired Finnish mobile authentication systems provider Valimo Wireless Oy. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Valimo’s technology enables mobile phone users to digitally sign documents and confirm legally binding transactions by entering a self-chosen passphrase or a PIN code. Valimo Mobile ID solution provides secure online banking, mobile payments, governmental services, electronic and mobile commerce and identity and access rights management for enterprise applications.

ARM and Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) announced plans to develop a mobile electronic payment system combining ARM’s TrustZone technology and G&D’s Mobicore operating system.

“We will be working with ARM to develop the security architecture for the next generation of mobile phones. This will enable people to access highly valuable services with convenience and security,” explains Kai Grassie, head of the New Business division at G&D.

The European Payments Council (EPC) and GSMA, a trade group of wireless operators, have launched a consultation on SEPA and mobile contactless payments, according to finextra.com.

The two organizations are working to encourage cooperation among payment services providers and mobile network operators for the eventual creation of a Europe-wide mobile payment system that would allow some 500 million Europeans to make SEPA payments using their mobile handsets.

Just as the European Union is ready to unveil mobile payment technology, phone operators and customers are having second thoughts about the product. Mobile payments are drawing concerns from both parties, according to Euractiv.com. Consumers are worried about who will be tracking their purchasing history the level buying history privacy that will be exposed, while phone operators are thinking about how the mobile payment system could generate revenue.

According to Inge Flatraaker, a Norwegian official involved in negotiations to release m-payments, a French trial of the product yielded some response to the use of m-payments on public transport, but little success in shops.

Irish banks are considering offering support for mobile payment using NFC technology, according to the Irish Examiner.

Representatives from Visa Europe are meeting with banks in Dublin this week to negotiate a deal that would bring the technology to Ireland. Plans are expected to be finalized by 2011.

PYMNTS.com, a joint venture between Berkshire Hathaway’s Business Wire and Market Platform Dynamics that promotes the companies, products and people that drive “what’s next” in global payments, has announced the launch of the Mobile Platform Wars briefing room - a place where participants from across the payments sector can voice their views on how mobile payments will be adopted and in what timeframe.

Follow the conversation here.  

The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of NFC technology, announced the adoption and release of the Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) specification, which supports bi-directional communications between NFC-compliant devices.

The organization also announced the new NFC Signature Record Type Definition (RTD) candidate specification, which defines how to digitally sign data records in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) messages. Both specifications are available to the public for download at no charge at here.

ARM Ltd. has joined GlobalPlatform as a participating member assisting in the open security and software development for mobile and multi-application secure devices. Digital wireless, networking and consumer entertainment technology as well as security storage devices are among the products ARM services.

GlobalPlatform welcomes ARM’s help in standardizing security infrastructure for their various security applications. Securing financial transactions and applications such Pay-TV and communication will be ARM’s principle projects at GlobalPlatform. This advancement will strengthen GlobalPlatform Specifications image as a prudent choice for smart devices.