Acer, a multinational IT and electronics corporation based in Taiwan, has announced the launch a new entry-level NFC smart phone for the French market, the E320 Liquid Express.

The new handset will run on Android’s 2.3.3 Gingerbread OS, and will look and function much like Acer’s Liquid E (pictured). Features include a 3.5-inch HVGA display, Wi-Fi and five megapixel camera, in addition to NFC. 

PayPal has revealed its plan to ‘re-imagine’ the way people shop by enabling payments anytime, anywhere with any device, according to the company’s blog.

The new system is designed to affect the entire “shopping lifecycle” – starting with location-based mobile advertising and ending with mobile payments at the point of sale. Customers can also scan in-store bar codes with their mobile devices to receive coupons, as well as scan items to compare prices around town or find the right size or color. 

A report released by Goode Intelligence, an information security industry research and analyst company, predicts the mobile phone biometric security products and services marketplace will grow from the 4 million users in 2011 to 39 million users by 2015.

The report, Mobile Phone Biometric Security Analysis and Forecasts 2011-2015, also looks at how it sees a future of mobile phones that could mimic the Japanese model where the phone and its near field communication (NFC) enabled technology are depended on regularly for actions such as making in-person payments. 

Turkcell has some new developments leveraging NFC technology, according to the Wall Street Journal, which was recently given a glance inside the company’s research center outside of Istanbul.

The Turkish teleco, which boasts some 33.5 million subscribers, has figured out a way to fit up to 11 different bank accounts and charge cards onto the mere 256kb of space on a standard SIM card. This allows an NFC-enabled phone to be used as a true e-wallet with a number of different payment options, rather than one proprietary account or payment card. 

BMO Bank of Montreal has announced that it will become the first bank in Canada to launch MasterCard’s Mobile PayPass Tag for NFC payments.

BMO customers can attach the tag to their mobile phone to make contactless purchases at the point of sale by simply tapping the phone against a PayPass reader. Once the purchase is complete the user a receives an instant email verification of the transaction. 

Rabobank and Albert Heijn (AH) have announced the launch of an NFC payments pilot at the ‘AH to go’ convenience store in the Amsterdam WTC.

Dubbed ‘Mijn ID,’ the new service uses NFC stickers that are attached to the customer’s phone, which link to the user’s Rabobank Minitix wallet enabling contactless payments at the point of sale. 

HID Global announced plans to support iCLASS digital keys and mobile secure identity on NFC-enabled BlackBerry smart phones.

The new BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 and BlackBerry Curve 9350/9360 smart phones activated with iCLASS digital credentials will be compatible with the installed base of iCLASS readers that are used for applications ranging from physical access systems in buildings, to student IDs, to applications that track time and attendance.

Instead of using keys or smart cards, BlackBerry smart phone users will be able to use iCLASS digital credentials that can be presented for authentication by simply holding their NFC-enabled BlackBerry smart phone in front of a reader, just like they do today with a physical iCLASS smart card.