With the main selling event - and last opportunity to sell the season’s collections - in Paris only two weeks later, feedback the designers receive from the London shows is invaluable, allowing them to tailor their collections according to the buyers’ feedback.

Emilio de la Morena, Fashion Designer, said, “Traditionally we are very much in the dark with regards to what buyers think of the collection presented in London before we present the complete collection to buyers in Paris. Our partnership with O2 means that for the first time we have a way of immediately capturing essential feedback, providing us with the time to understand what the buyers are thinking and make any changes straight away.”

Anthony Stephinson, Fashion Buyer, Two See, said, “This is a really interesting project to be a part of during London Fashion Week. As the event gathers momentum, and becomes a dominant feature in the global fashion calendar, this kind of technology will only serve to make life easier for everyone. It could be as simple as turning up to the sales appointment the next morning and having your pre-selection on a rail ready for you to work from.”

Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director, O2 UK , commented, “This pilot is an extension of our current NFC trials, where we are working with partners like Transport for London and Barclaycard on the O2 Wallet® to bring NFC technology to consumers. Customer insight has shown us that demand for NFC in the UK and this trial is a great opportunity for us to bring technology innovation to the fashion industry to help designers at a notoriously busy time in the London fashion calendar.”

What is AGPS-SIM

BlueSky Positioning has a different approach to solving the mobile industry’s need for mobile positioning technology by integrating AGPS technology into the SIM, not the handset. Other mobile positioning technologies such as cell-ID sometimes have accuracy issues while GPS-enabled mobile phones, while accurate, are expensive and not widely deployed. This situation creates a challenge for operators–they cannot deliver much-vaunted location-enabled services or meet forthcoming E112 requirements. (E112 refers to the EU Directive 112 (2003) that requires mobile phone networks to provide emergency services with all information they have about the location that an emergency mobile call was made. This directive is based on the FCC’s Enhanced 911 ruling in 2001.)

BlueSky Positioning has developed patent-pending technology and processes to embed Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS) capability in the SIM card (USIM in the case of 3G handsets), with minimal impact on signal strength and battery life. In Europe, mobile operators could only replace the SIM cards, not the phones themselves to comply with E112. BlueSky Positioning’s A-GPS SIM uses a SUPL compliant assistance data server in the mobile network to reduce the location identification time and increase accuracy, particularly within densely populated areas. By embedding this location capability in the end-user SIM, with or without NFC capability, manufacturers can enable swift and effective roll out and compliance–and faster emergency response times.

“Our third-generation MicroRead solution is the perfect answer to the increasingly complex requirements of mobile manufacturers who can now lead the evolution of the market with a mature, proven, advanced product,” said Philippe Martineau, executive vice president of the NFC Business Line at INSIDE Contactless.

With this chip INSIDE is anticipating the continuing evolution of NFC, which will bring the next generation of applications to market, Martineau said.

INSIDE also claims that the MicroRead IC is the first NFC chip to be both SIM- and SE-friendly. The multi-host router technology built into the MicroRead chip provides the capacity to implement any secure element, including SIM, SE or SD card, to support any business model.

Also unique is the MicroRead’s self-powered “battery-off” mode, which provides simplicity and convenience to improve the user experience by enabling transactions to take place successfully even when the host device is turned off or the battery is completely drained. The low-power card detection mode also provides a battery life-optimized, pop-up application mechanism to avoid the need to browse a menu or press a button to launch an NFC-based application.

The INSIDE Contactless MicroRead multi-standard NFC solution will be available in sample quantities in the second quarter of 2008. Production volumes are anticipated in the third quarter of this year.

This solution will be rolled out nationally in 2008. It will enable banks, transport companies and other service providers to incorporate their services onto a mobile environment.

“We learned a great deal from our NFC SIM programs in Taiwan and about the needs of our partners and end-users for trust and convenience. Every subscriber is convinced that mobile tap-to-pay is fast, convenient and easy to use. We responded by becoming a business facilitator”, said Tan Teck Lee, president, Gemalto Asia.

“Remote management of contactless services is key,” added Jeff Ku, vice president of emerging services at Taiwan Mobile. “With this system enablers subscribers do not have to go to a bank branch or train station to load and update their applications. This solution is primarily intended for contactless payment use, but we can extend this system to also work with transport applications and contactless coupon management. We now have an elegant way to enable other service providers to upload their applications through the system, thus opening the door to greater use because of the flexibility of the OTA implementation.”

Experience Near Field Communication in Action at GSM Mobile World Congress 2008 Luncheon

Chairman Christophe Duverne and NFC Forum Members Discuss NFC Market, Pilots, Deployments and Consumer Results Mobile World Congress 2008

WHAT:
According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, one third of all mobile phones will be NFC-equipped in a span of three to five years.

Join us to experience - and hear about - NFC technology in action at the GSM Mobile World Congress 2008 NFC Forum Luncheon. NFC Forum Christophe Duverne will provide an update on the latest developments in the Forum and the NFC market. NFC Forum members will present the latest results of public trials, pilots and deployments, and demonstrate exciting and innovative products. This is your chance to find out about responses from consumers using NFC technology in real-life environments and situations.

WHO:
Meet representatives of the NFC Forum and members Gemalto, Innovision, NEXPERTS, NXP, City of Oulu, and ViVOtech.

WHEN:
Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 12:30-14:30

WHERE:
Sala Vivaldi-c/Llanca 5 (one block from Fira Barcelona) Barcelona, Spain

Register:
http://www.virtualmgmt.com/nfc-forum/index_3gsm_lunch08.html

View Map:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=ES&addtohistory=&address=Llanca+5&city=barcelona&zipcode= (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser’s address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About the NFC Forum

The NFC Forum, http://www.nfc-forum.org, was launched as a non-profit industry association in 2004 by leading mobile communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. The Forum’s mission is to advance the use of Near Field Communication technology by developing specifications, ensuring interoperability among devices and services, and educating the market about NFC technology. The Forum’s 150+ global member companies currently are developing specifications for a modular NFC device architecture, and protocols for interoperable data exchange and device-independent service delivery, device discovery, and device capability.

The NFC Forum’s Sponsor members, which hold seats on the Board of Directors, include leading players in key industries around the world. The Sponsor members are: HP, MasterCard International, Microsoft Corp., NEC, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Panasonic, Renesas Technology, Samsung, Sony Corporation, and Visa International.

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Crown Computing’s Monitoring System Provides Real Time Service Delivery Management for Home Care Providers

Time is always short, but when it involves home carers calling on the frail or elderly, maximising it is important – even life saving.

Thanks to a new Homecare Monitoring system from Crown Computing, supervisors in control centres are being made aware in real time that carers are arriving on time at each of their planned visits. The real time data is captured using a mobile phone issued to each carer, and a contact free chip card or tag located at the service user address.

Should a carer be late for a time critical visit, Crown’s system will generate an alert to inform the supervisor who can then investigate and put a contingency plan in place if needed.

The technology used is Near Field Communication – a form of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) – where the mobile phone is used to scan the contact free chipcard (which has a unique ID) thus pinpointing the location of the carer at a specific time.

“At each visit the carer’s mobile phone reads the client’s card or tag using a simple “swipe” motion to send the start and end time of each visit back to the system database in real-time,” said Mike Hawkesford, Managing Director, Crown Computing.

“This has a number of advantages for the service provider; there is confirmation in real time that the person being cared for is receiving the care they have contracted to provide and from a health and safety perspective the system is providing up to date information about the whereabouts of each carer.”

“In addition any unexpected staff changes or delays can be identified quickly, better managed and communicated to the client – whilst the use of the mobile phone to ‘register’ the carer’s time is less intrusive than existing methods involving dialling a number from the client’s land line telephone.”

The management system is suitable for use by Local Authority internal homecare teams and for external providers contracted by Local Authorities.

At the other end of the process, data captured from the system can also be used to trigger payments to staff members and invoices to the Local Authorities, as well as costs to be correctly allocated and recharges appropriately attributed, eliminating the need for the carer to fill in manual timesheets - saving time and reducing errors.

The uses for this technology are potentially widespread and it lends itself particularly to the Security Guarding and Field Maintenance sectors, where being able to confirm in real time that their operatives have visited specific locations at a specific time is an important part of their service.

About Crown Computing

Visit www.crowncomputing.co.uk for details of Crown Computing Limited Crown’s employee management systems manage all aspects of employee time from scheduling and rostering, through attendance and absence management, to activity booking in one single, fully integrated application. With over 20 years of experience Crown has built interfaces into a wide range of HR, payroll and business operations systems, enabling captured data to be used for payment costing and re charging purposes.

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MALVERN, Pa.–USA Technologies announced that vending machines equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) capable ePorts have been unveiled at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

U.S. Bank, MasterCard Worldwide and Nokia have introduced a mobile payments pilot program in Spokane. Program participants received a new Nokia mobile phone equipped with MasterCard® PayPass™ payment functionality, which allows them to pay for purchases with a tap of their mobile phone, instead of sliding a card through a magnetic stripe reader, handing it over to the cashier, or fumbling for cash and coins. NFC is the next wave of cashless payment solutions beyond magnetic stripe and contactless credit and debit cards. NFC encrypts credit and debit card information using short distance radio waves and transmits the data directly to a payment device to enable purchases with cellular phones.

“Issuing banks and card companies are analyzing every kind of cashless payment device for speed and convenience and the ePort G6 is the first, proven cashless transaction device in vending that accepts all forms of cashless payment,” said John McLaughlin, vice president of business development, USA Technologies. “USA Technologies is the first to offer NFC wireless technology that allows consumers to make purchases with contactless cards as well as cellular phones from vending machines,” he said.

Mobile payments are on the rise in the United States and worldwide, and will be available to a growing number of U.S. Bank customers in the future. As of November 27, 2007, more than 80,000 merchants accept MasterCard PayPass, including many in the Spokane area, such as Regal Cinemas, McDonalds®, Jack in the Box® and 7-Eleven®. Gonzaga University will also accept PayPass at various vending machines throughout its campus in order to provide busy students and faculty with the fastest and most convenient payment option available.

USA Technologies has taken the leadership position in NFC and cashless vending. The Company has been enabling vending machines to accept NFC transactions since June 2006 and more than 20,000 NFC capable ePort terminals have been deployed across the country.

“According to recent analyst reports, there will be over 188 million contactless cards in the U.S. alone and over 470 million NFC-enabled phones in operation worldwide by 2011. With an estimated 190 million cellular phones in use by American consumers, and handset manufacturers and carriers are squarely focused on delivering payment capability and related services to consumers through this infrastructure,” said Mr. McLaughlin.

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U.S. Bank and MasterCard Worldwide® to Launch Innovative Mobile Payments Pilot Program in Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash.–U.S. Bank, MasterCard Worldwide and Nokia have introduced a mobile payments pilot program in Spokane, Wash. Program participants received a new Nokia mobile phone equipped with MasterCard® PayPass™ payment functionality, which allows them to pay for purchases with a tap of their mobile phone, instead of sliding a card through a magnetic stripe reader, handing it over to the cashier, or fumbling for cash and coins.

The phones integrate technology that, when used at a PayPass-enabled terminal or reader, transmits payment details wirelessly, eliminating the need to hand over a card for a merchant to swipe through a reader. After the terminal is tapped with the phone, the customer receives payment confirmation and is on his or her way. With this new way to pay, there is typically no need to sign for transactions under $25.

Mobile payments are on the rise in the United States and worldwide, and will be available to a growing number of U.S. Bank customers in the future. As of Nov. 27, 2007, more than 80,000 merchants accept MasterCard PayPass, including many in the Spokane area, such as Regal Cinemas, McDonalds®, Jack in the Box® and 7-Eleven®. Gonzaga University will also accept PayPass at various vending machines throughout its campus in order to provide busy students and faculty with the fastest and most convenient payment option available.

Program participants received Nokia 6131 NFC phones, which are equipped with the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology needed to communicate with MasterCard PayPass readers. MasterCard PayPass is proving to be a better way to accomplish even the smallest transactions at gas stations, movie theatres, concession stands, vending machines, quick-serve restaurants, taxi cabs, sports arenas and other emerging acceptance locations.

MasterCard PayPass payments made via mobile phone are processed using the same secure network through which billions of other MasterCard transactions are processed each year. In addition, consumers can protect their payment account information on their phone with a password. Should a customer misplace his or her phone, the payment feature can easily be disabled remotely with a call to U.S. Bank customer service.

The ability to initiate secure Over-The-Air (OTA) delivery of the MasterCard PayPass application to the mobile phone is necessary for both effective implementation of the mobile payments pilot program and eventual commercial rollout. Venyon is providing this secure OTA service which also allows for remote personalization and management of the payment feature.

About MasterCard PayPass

MasterCard PayPass is ideal for traditional cash-heavy environments where speed is essential, and has led the way in bringing contactless technology to consumer categories such as quick serve restaurants, drug stores, gas stations, vending machines, convenience stores, sports arenas, movie theaters, transit systems and parking garages. As of November 2007 there are more than 20 million PayPass cards and devices issued globally, and PayPass is currently accepted globally at more than 80,000 merchant locations, including participating CVS, McDonald’s, Regal Entertainment Group theaters and many others. PayPass is also accepted at numerous professional football and baseball stadiums. For more information about MasterCard PayPass and a full list of participating merchants, visit www.mastercard.com/paypass.

About MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link between financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes close to 16 billion payments each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard Worldwide serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, go to www.mastercardworldwide.com.

About Venyon

Venyon is driving seamless communication in NFC ecosystems by developing and operating a secure and versatile service platform to be used for the over the air (OTA) provisioning of the consumer applications, such as credit cards and transport tickets, to consumers’ NFC enabled mobile devices. Acting as a Trusted Service Manager (TSM) Venyon offers white-label OTA services for mobile operators, banks, transport companies, retailers and other service providers, who are offering different applications for consumers’ NFC devices. Venyon is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and has offices also in Munich, Germany, Dallas, USA and Singapore. For more information, please visit our website www.venyon.com.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with $238 billion in assets, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 6th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 2,518 banking offices and 4,867 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.