Creditcards.com, a Web site that bills itself as a credit card marketplace, predicts that mobile payments will further increase in 2009, but cautions that as this area matures, it could prove ripe for thieves. In its “Nine Predictions for Credit Cards in 2009,” the site notes that three million people in the U.S. used mobile banking during a 90-day period in 2008, according to one research firm, which is almost triple the number of people who used it six months before.

Read more here. Go to Prediction No. 9 for its mobile banking analysis.  

Advanced Card Systems Ltd., a supplier of PC-linked smart card readers, announced the opening of its new sales and support office in Tokyo, Japan and the appointment of Hiroyuki Shimada as general manager of Advanced Card Systems (Japan).

Shimada will coordinate all sales and marketing activities across ACS Japan and further assist in developing the company’s Japan sales strategy.  

by Patrick Hearn, Oberthur Technologies

With the change in administration in 2009 it’s likely there won’t be much activity with smart cards in the federal government. Existing projects will continue forward but new ones will most likely be stalled for at least a year.

But that doesn’t mean the industry will be standing still waiting for the Obama administration. Integration of smart chip technology into other form factors is an area where Oberthur Technologies sees a lot of activity.

Near Field Communication will take off for payments but will also start being adopted for physical access control applications. This will enable smart chips to have greater ubiquity and additional form factors and applications emerge.

Sagem Orga has announced the availability of an NFC Single Wire Protocol enabled SIM card, developed in close cooperation with Orange, a telecommunications operators. This card has been customized for Orange’s specific needs.

Sagem Orga and Orange cooperated in a 15-month project to create a solution that will enable Orange customers to use contactless technology. The Single Wire Protocol is a new interface that defines the communication of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card with a Near Field Communication chip in the handset.

Implementing contactless and mobile payments is the subject of the Smart Card Alliance’s next online seminar about smart card payments. Scheduled for Jan. 13 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, the Webinar is being produced in partnership with the Electronic Transactions Association.

by Mohammad Khan, President and Founder, ViVOtech Inc.

With the current credit-crunch situation in worldwide financial markets, 2009 will be a challenging year for many different industries, including ours. However, I see contactless payment rollouts to see positive growth in 2009 across all major continents.

The good news is that we already have more than 60 million branded contactless credit and debit cards issued in the U.S., and I expect it to reach the 100 million mark by the third quarter of 2009. That will then represent approximately 25% of branded cards actively used in the U.S.

This will be a major milestone. However, one critical effort that card issuers must accomplish in 2009 is to increase awareness so that many of their contactless cardholders can start tapping to pay instead of continuing to swipe the cards.

The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association advocating the use of Near Field Communication technology, announced that INSIDE Contactless has become a sponsor member and joined its board of directors. Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. also joined as Principal Member.

In addition, organizations from across all segments of the NFC global ecosystem have joined as associate members, including mobile handset manufacturers, mobile service providers, payment services providers, chip makers, solution developers, municipalities and academic institutions.

by Randy Vanderhoof, executive director, Smart Card Alliance

Looking into the future of the North American smart card market in 2009 and 2010, I see no signs for concern, with the possible exception that the current recession could be far worse than previous economic downturns. Having been professionally engaged in the smart card industry since the early 1990s, I have witnessed the smart card markets riding the cycles of the financial industry and going through many ups and down. Whatever happens next in the general economy, the 2009 smart card industry has a solid foundation to maintain, and even grow, its business.

Two examples of that strong foundation are the government and mobile telecom markets.

The federal government has adopted smart chip technology as a core component of its homeland security policy. The U.S. has invested heavily in defining the card standards, updating credentialing policies, and getting issuance infrastructures in place.

The Smart Card Alliance Contactless and Mobile Payments Council has rolled out a model that can help merchants involved with contactless and mobile payments calculate return on investment. There’s also an online discussion forum to ask industry professionals questions and post comments about contactless payments.

Even though there were nearly 800 million credit and debit cards in circulation in Japan at the end of 2007, making it one of the top countries in payment card penetration, usage of these cards is quite low. A new report from Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group shows that Japan is still a cash-centric society, making it an untapped market for electronic payments. However, contactless could change all that.

While Japanese residents on average have 6.2 credit or debit cards per person, higher than their peers in most card markets around the world including the U.S. with 3.6 cards, an average Japanese resident spent just $30 on their credit and debit cards in 2007 while the number was close to $180 in the U.S.