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Analyst casts doubt on contactless stickers

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Forget contactless stickers. Just get on with NFC, a Boston, Mass. researcher argues. Nick Holland, Aite Group, tells Digital Transactions that contactless stickers, the kind that can be affixed to cell phones or PDAs and are meant to serve as an interim step before NFC takes hold, are “fundamentally flawed.”

He believes the stickers, which he calls “semi-NFC initiatives,” could actually turn people away from NFC when it becomes commercially available because of their limited functionality and because the stickers could be seen as defacing the devices.

On Track Innovations has received a U.S. patent for adding contactless capability to existing mobile handsets through contactless SIM technology.

U.S. Patent No. 8,090,407, aka “Contactless Smart SIM,” covers the capabilities necessary to turn existing mobile handsets into NFC-enabled devices through the use of a SIM card and a specifically designed antenna, all while keeping the phone and operating system “fully agnostic,” says OTI.

Survey: Germans coming around to NFC, contactless payments

A new survey from Euro Kartensysteme shows that Germans are starting to embrace the idea of contactless and NFC payments.

Out of 1,040 Germans aged 18-59, 43% responded that they would like to make contactless payments if given the opportunity, of which 58% percent would make their payments with a debit card card, 41% with a credit card and 50% with an NFC phone.

All handset makers are readying NFC payments, says MasterCard exec

Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard’s head of Emerging Payments, has some good news for those waiting on NFC-enabled phones for contactless payments.

In an interview with Fast Company, McLaughlin said that he didn’t know of a handset maker who wasn’t working on integrating support for PayPass contactless payments.

Superdrug launches contactless payment at more than 50 stores

Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

U.S. contacless payment card shipments takes a dip

The 2011 contactless payment card shipments in the United States have taken a dramatic drop, according to ABI Research.

The number of shipments has fallen considerably when comparing against quarterly shipments achieved in 2010, explains Phil Sealy, research analyst, security and ID. And the drop in shipments has primarily been driven by some overriding factors including:

PayPal pilots NFC payments in Sweden

PayPal has announced that it will launch its first-ever pilot of NFC retail payments in Sweden for the holidays, according to Mobile Payments Today.

The company has partnered with Swedish mobile banking and payments provider Accumulate to deliver PayPal Instore, a new mobile payments app for Apple and Android smart phones.

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Analyst casts doubt on contactless stickers