The Royal Bank of Scotland announces plans to become the first British Bank to pioneer mobile phone debit payments in the UK using Maestro PayPass. The Royal Bank of Scotland plans to try the service internally at its headquarters in Edinburgh until the end of 2007 before starting public trials next year. Paul Geddes, Chief Executive, Consumer Banking at The Royal Bank of Scotland, says: “Mobile phones are playing an increasingly important role in our day to day lives. According to official figures, 80% of UK adults own at least one mobile.”

MasterCard Worldwide is launching a trial of its contactless payment technology in Australia during the MasterCard Masters golf tournament, but instead of using a traditional contactless card, the MasterCard® PayPass™ will be on a mobile phone. In conjunction with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the MasterCard PayPass mobile phone trial will include a free giveaway of 3000 MasterCard PayPass cards, each with $25 to be used at any of the retailers at the MasterCard Masters, which have been set up with MasterCard PayPass readers.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has joined the race to allow shoppers to buy anything from snacks to sports tickets with just a flash of their mobile phone. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is vying with the National Australia Bank to be among the first Australian financial services firms to offer NFC-enabled contactless payment technology to its customers. Around 50 NFC enabled mobile phones have been supplied to merchants at the event, allowing attendees to test the technology, which permits users to complete transactions worth up to $35 without entering a PIN. Paying with the mobile phone would compliment other contactless payment methods such as smart card credit cards, which banks have been increasingly issuing customers, according to Australian IT.  

A new Sony Ericsson patent application shows an innovative method of transferring files between mobile phones.

The “portable device with short range communication function” patent offers a “simplified procedure” for sending and receiving data using a drag and drop interface on a mobile phone.

Rather than go through the process of selecting Bluetooth as the how to send option via the menu in a phone, this new interface would allow a Sony Ericsson mobile user to simply drag an item off the side of their phone’s touchscreen in the direction of the device to receive the file.

For use with NFC (Near Field Communication) as well as Bluetooth, the action of dragging the item would then create a pop up “Send to X phone?” message and transfer would automatically start. It does not matter in which direction the other user’s phone is as long as the devices are within range for communication.  

RBC and Visa Canada are teaming up to be the first in Canada to pilot a mobile payment service that uses cellphones rather than traditional credit cards for making Visa purchases. The Ontario-based pilot is expected to be completed in 2008. As part of the pilot, mobile devices will be embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless chips that will enable users to make purchases using the Visa payWave feature just as they would with a contactless payment card. The functions to be tested in the pilot include secure delivery and storage of account information to the mobile device; mobile payments at retailers; storing and redeeming mobile payment coupons; and mobile account management.

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Using an ATM card and checking an account balance online may not be that unordinary to people online reading this, but for those people who live in small rural town and earn small amounts of money rarely ever access a bank account. But six months ago, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to experiment with their technology-outreach program and is starting to change all of this using Near Field Communications. This past summer, officials sent in cell phones and a bunch of smart cards to rural “camps.” The government hopes to touch 35 lakh people across the state under the project. Everyone entitled to the state pension will be the first recipient of the technology’s benefits. ”It’s the first time that such a high-end technology is being used at the grassroots,” claim its creators—Mumbai-based A Little World Pvt Ltd.  

Innovision Research & Technology is making its unique Gem™ Near Field Communication (NFC) semiconductor intellectual property (IP) available under an evaluation licensing program. This will enable semiconductor companies to develop NFC capability, either for stand-alone solutions or as part of System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated NFC solutions.

Establishing a new standard for consumer-based one-to-one marketing, ViVOtech is rolling out the commercial release of their ViVOplatform&rade; Smart Poster Management Software (VpSPm). VpSPm is a one-on-one mobile marketing software system that enables merchants to drive business through the creation, management, and delivery of personalized and context-sensitive information to consumers’ mobile phones. The platform allows businesses to broadcast promotions, products, and make coupons directly available to consumers on their NFC-capable mobile phones through interaction with “smart posters.”

During CARTES, Infineon Technologies AG announced a 32-bit high-security flash microcontroller designed to bring a significant layer of security and convenience to mobile applications based on NFC (Near Field Communications). In addition to its extensive hardware security capability, the new NFC-enabled SIM card microcontroller combines a Single Wire Protocol (SWP) interface with contactless Mifare® technology. The security microcontroller enables new services on mobile devices, such as ticketing, secure banking and loyalty programs. Users of NFC-enabled mobile phones, where a SIM card holding this chip is integrated, will be able to make payments or access public transportation by holding the mobile phone in front of a contactless terminal.

NXP and Sony have announced the creation of Moversa, a joint venture geared for universal contactless solutions on mobile phones. It marks another step toward the commercial availability of Near Field Communication (NFC). The new company is designed to help service providers such as mobile phone operators, transportation network operators and credit card companies accelerate their rollouts of advanced contactless services to mobile phone users. Moversa will plan, develop, produce and market a secure chip technology that will support contactless providers NXP and Sony while also supporting third party applications.