IBBT, a research institute of the Flemish government, has completed two-year study on the use of NFC-enabled mobile coupons in place of paper vouchers.

The research was conducted in collaboration with Clear2Pay/Integri, Keyware and Accor Services, and addressed mobile coupons’ usability, legal aspects, security and applications. ▸

Germany’s Stollmann announced that it has integrated its NFC protocol stack into Tipro Deutschland’s NFC Money Tray.

The integrated NFC Money Tray enables point of sale mobile payment and supports ticketing system applications as well as applications for access control and Web-based control systems.

Stollmann revealed NFC Money Tray last week at the Embedded World 2010 Conference held in Nuremberg, Germany.  

The NFC Forum, a non-profit association dedicated to advancing NFC technology, has gained 19 new members from 14 countries.

The new members are from several sectors of the NFC industry, including semiconductor and terminal manufacturers, higher education, service providers, compliance and testing organizations and systems integrators. ▸

Can biometrics help launch mobile payment in U.S.?

For the first time, a mobile phone with a fingerprint biometric scanner is arriving on U.S. shores.

The LG eXpo is being offered in the U.S. by AT&T and in Canada by TELUS, says Art Stewart, vice president of mobile systems products at Authentec, a Melbourne, Fla.-based provider of fingerprint scanners.

While this may be revolutionary in the U.S., fingerprint scanners on mobile devices aren’t new in many countries. Authentec has provided more than 10 million scanners for 20 different mobile phones since 2003, says Stewart. ▸

Toronto’s EnStream LP is launching a pilot of their new The Zoompass Tag, a 43 mm by 33 mm sticker that can be attached to a mobile phone to make contactless purchases.

According to Robin Dua, President of EnStream LP, pilot participants will be able to pay for their morning coffee, gas at the pump, and lunch at a fast-food restaurants using only their mobile phones. ▸

The Indian branch of Citigroup has announced plans to launch NFC-enabled mobile payment technology by December of this year, according to livemint.com.

The announcement follows the recent completion of a 26-week NFC payment pilot project in Bangalore featuring 3,000 customers, 250 merchant locations and nearly 50,000 contacltess purchases. ▸

Global financial services consultancy Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) has released its report on the Citi Tap and Pay pilot service launched in the city of Bengaluru, India in July 2009.

Conceived by Citi Growth Ventures and spearheaded by Citibank India, in collaboration with Nokia, Vodafone, MasterCard and ViVotech, Citi Tap and Pay offered customers in Bengaluru the ability to make contactless purchases with their mobile phones. ▸