Silicon Valley-based Cimbal has announced the public launch of its software-based NFC payment network. The network, which the company claims is the first of its kind in the world, enables secure payment and peer-to-peer transactions using a smart phone instead of a plastic card. 

Netsize has released a new report finding that a majority of survey respondents would use their mobiles to buy big-ticket items.

“Unlocking the Value of Mobile Commerce” includes research on the value amounts that people are ready for and willing to pay through their mobile phone for pricey items that go beyond the usual mix of transport tickets and parking tokens, according to Netsize. 

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan shows that current smart card-based transit projects in growing European and world cities will lead to an 11% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in smart card shipment from 2009 to 2015.

Europe and megacities are hot spots for future smart card-based transit projects, says the consultancy. “Technology and social factors now make it essential that transit authorities deploy smart ticketing solutions as a result of ubiquitous connectivity and mobile devices,” notes F&S Analyst Yiru Zhong. 

MarketsandMarkets has released a new report predicting that the value of mobile payment transactions in the US will reach $56 billion in 2015.

According to the report, “Mobile Payment - Advanced Technologies (NFC), Strategies And Future Of Remote & Proximity Payment In US,” the market for NFC mobile payment in the US is currently in its infancy, with an adoption rate of only 1.7%. 

Despite recent moves into mobile payment by giants such as Bank of America and Visa, US merchants may be hesitant to adopt the new technology, according to analysts at Reuters.

First, there’s the issue of cost. According to Reuters, merchants pay banks nearly $50 billion a year for processing transactions on credit or debit cards, including contactless or mobile transactions. More transactions means increased processing fees, and coupled with the cost of upgrading hardware, which normally only occurs every 5 years, merchants may be left with a bill too large to foot. 

CellTrust Corporation, a provider of SecureSMS for mobile phones, announced that it is preparing patent-pending, NFC-provisioning APIs using SecureSMS, in anticipation of NFC technology rollout beginning in early 2011.

Designed to make life much easier for the end-user, provisioning NFC will require the carrier to send sensitive and confidential information to the mobile subscriber’s handset. While a few methods exist to provision NFC, CellTrust believes SMS is the optimal choice because it uses the mobile communications control channel, which is separate from voice and data and operates regardless of the voice or data being used. 

A new Entrust mobile study reveals the need for effective security solutions in mobile phones is greater than ever. According to the data, most mobile applications have a limited functionality when it comes to overall security.

In recent years many organizations, businesses and financial institutions have been adopting mobile apps to streamline online transactions and offer more services to their customers.