NXP Semiconductors says within the next few months it will launch its MIFARE4Mobile Application Programming Interfaces specifications which will manage MIFARE-based applications in mobile devices. This new specification will provide mobile network operators and service providers with an interoperable programming interface for NFC-enabled phones.

Seeking to ensure continued NFC growth and acceptance, two French companies–contactless chip maker INSIDE Contactless and FIME, a smart card and terminal testing solutions provider–have partnered to speed up the attainment of NFC interoperability. The two companies hope to identify and resolve potential conflicts in NFC devices and develop a process for testing and certifying NFC-enabled handsets.

MasterCard has launched an over-the-air provisioning service enabling issuers to personalize their cardholders’ mobile devices in a one-step process. The new service, Mobile MasterCard PayPass, enables mobile devices to perform payment transactions at merchant locations with PayPass-enabled POS terminals.

Don Kingsborough, currently CEO of Blackhawk Network but who, earlier in his career spent time at Atari helping to introduce Nintendo to U.S. gamers, has been appointed to the board of directors of Silicon Valley-based ViVOtech, a developer of NFC mobile and contactless payment systems.

Between August and September, 2008, Aberdeen surveyed 180 companies to outline the implications and trends related to proximity mobile payments. Specific emphasis was placed on mobile Near Field Communications, an advanced contactless form factor, and mobile wallet software applications.

Sony Corp. has gained a major supplier of its FeliCa ISO 18092 standard contactless cards outside Asia, tapping Illinois-based Versatile Card Technology as its North American manufacturer.

“FeliCa represents a major improvement in the flexibility, speed and security of transactions with respect to the traditional ISO 14443 based card technologies now available in the U.S.,” said Rome Jetté, VCT’s vice president of smart cards. “With over 350 million FeliCa cards and cell phones already deployed in some of the most demanding applications, Sony has clearly proven that FeliCa technology is more than ready for the American market.”

FeliCa contactless cards have been deployed in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and others. Also, as the new NFC standard gains acceptance, Sony says it has seen FeliCa making major inroads into the mobile phone market where it is being embedded into handsets to conduct financial transactions.  

A partnership between Mobile Distillery, a provider of mobile application production tools and testing services, and Twinlinx, a developer of dedicated hardware for NFC-compliant phones, has led to a prototype solution that could potentially turn Bluetooth-enabled handsets into full-featured NFC devices. Twinlinx, co-founded by former Gemalto and INSIDE Contactless executive Jacek Kowalski, selected Mobile Distillery due to its involvement in developing mobile applications.

The future of contactless lies in a convergence of payments, access, identity and transit among other applications. That’s INSIDE Contactless’s view, which it intends to highlight at the upcoming CARTES and IDentification show in Paris Nov. 4-6 with its “A Converging Contactless Life,” presentations.

Another NFC trial, this one in Turkey, is slated to launch next January and will include nine banks with two of the country’s three mobile operators already committed. The country’s card switch and clearing center, BKM (Bankalararasi Kart Merkezi) Interbank Card Center, is handling the year-long pilot and will also act as the trusted service provider.

Any form of NFC device will be supported, says a BKM spokesperson, and any bank or mobile operator is welcome to join the trial.

Read more here.  

Payter, a Dutch mobile payments provider, will be allowing theater goers at Pathe cinemas in the Netherlands to pay for their tickets with their NFC-enabled phones. Consumers would be able to find out where the movie is showing, whether seats are available and then pay for their tickets by tapping one of Payter’s smart posters.

Payter is an NFC payments trial launched two years ago. Some 1,000 consumers are taking part in the trial and have been provided with NFC-enabled phones they can use in shops, parking garages, bars and restaurants in the Rotterdam area.

Read more here.