Macrumors.com has discovered new Apple patents that may show the future of the iPhone.

Potentially in store for the device are biometrics that would recognize a users different fingerprint patterns for security and to activate different applications. “So the index finger might mean email, while the middle finger music, etc, alternatively different fingers could mean different actions, so again index finger might play music while the middle finger might stop it,” the site states.

Motorola has joined Via Licensing Corp.’s joint licensing program for patents essential to NFC usage. The program is designed to provide fair and convenient access to essential patents through a single license agreement.

Among the applications covered by this program are NFC–compliant mobile phones, consumer electronic devices, and commercial systems such as payment processing terminals, transportation terminals, and vending machines.

A range of related technical specifications published by ISO, ETSI, and the NFC Forum are covered by the NFC patent pool agreement and are available here.  

In what is being billed as one of the largest NFC pilots so far, Citi is making mobile phone payments available in India in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and VIVOtech. Some 5,000 people will participate in Citi’s Tap and Pay Bangalore trial.

The pilot will include Nokia’s NFC-enabled 6212 classic phone. Vodafone is the mobile network operator for the pilot service while MasterCard will offer its MasterCard PayPass contactless payment and security infrastructure.

Read more here.  

Gemalto announced it has been selected by MTN Uganda for its national mobile payment program. Service rollout started in March and to date, around 180,000 m-payment transactions have already been performed.


MTN Uganda is part of the MTN Group, a multinational telecommunications group operating in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East and serving more than 100 million subscribers, including 4.2 million in Uganda. Gemalto provided MTN Uganda with a solution that includes the server for interconnecting the operator with its banking service provider, and the SIM cards storing and executing the m-payment application.

CardLogix, a provider of smart cards and software for secure digital authentication, and charismathics, a vendor of IT security components and identity management middleware, announced that they have formalized a partnership. charismathics is now a Smart Partner, supporting its solutions with CardLogix SIMs and smart cards. Together, these products form a solution for securing identity on mobile handsets and other devices.

These solutions are designed to fill an acute need for securing identity and data on mobile handsets as applications exponentially grow. Operators need authentication to protect against fraud and unauthorized use, and to assure customers that their personal data is safe and protected.

One of the first questions always asked about NFC technology–that’s seen lots of trials but little else–is when will it become commercially available? For Swedish telecom Ericsson, it’s 2010. That’s the prediction of the company’s vice president of systems architecture during his speech at Ericsson’s Business Innovation Forum in Stockholm this week.

“A year from now basically every new phone that’s sold will have NFC. It’s a two-way, bio-directional RFID communication link that makes this device work as a tag or as a reader,” said Håkan Djuphammar.

Advanced Card Systems Ltd., an Asia Pacific supplier of PC-linked smart card readers, plans to launch its newest offering, an NFC contactless smart card reader token, in the third quarter of this year. Called the ACR122T, the USB token is designed for mobile applications.

Its compact USB plug design makes it portable and easy to use. According to the company, it is suitable for a wide range of NFC applications, such as secure computer log-on with corresponding contactless cards or NFC tags in public places like a coffee shop or a public library, balance-checking and reloading of an e-purse or for online payment.

The ACR122T supports various types of contactless cards, including ISO 14443 Type A and B, Mifare and FeliCa cards and NFC contactless tags.  

Instead of a contactless payment sticker for your mobile phone, why not just skin the entire phone? That’s the reasoning behind Phoolah the product that that Mobile Payment Skins, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based provider of mobile contactless payment service solutions that is launching this fall. The name comes from a combination of payment card, personalized skin and mobile phone.

Gemalto announced that it is providing personalization services to Citibank and Visa in support of the Citi - M1 mobile - Visa payWave NFC pilot in Singapore. 


More than 750 merchant locations across Singapore are participating in the three-month pilot, which was launched in May 2009. Up to 300 selected Citi M1 Visa Platinum card members have been invited to join. They are able to purchase items at Visa payWave merchants simply by waving their NFC-enabled phones in front of a contactless reader at the point of sale.


Two Finland-based companies, UPM Raflatac, a producer of RFID tags and inlays, and printer Hansaprint, have partnered to target the growing NFC market. As one part of the agreement, the two companies will offer a solution that provides easy creation of low volume customized NFC tags and labels via an online service.

With Hansaprint’s digital printing expertise, the two companies hope to provide both high and low volumes of individually customized NFC products.