HID Global has partnered with Inside Contactless providing software so iCLASS credentials can be emulated on MicroRead NFC chips.

Tam Hulusi, senior vice president of strategic innovation and intellectual property at HID, says NFC technology hasn’t always been a sure thing but now it appears that a number of factors are coalescing to bring NFC to market. “NFC has been up and down the past few years,” he says. “Now everyone understands that NFC has to be supported by smart phones … and smart phones with higher bandwidth can make NFC a reality.” 

ABI Research, an independent firm providing analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies, has announced the appointment of John Devlin as principal analyst for smart cards and embedded security.

As a principal analyst, Devlin will focus his research and management efforts on markets and technologies for smart cards and chip cards, authentication, identification, payments and data protection. 

Meridian Health and Cypak have announced the launch of their new joint venture, iMPak Health, whose mission will be to develop smart, easy to use wireless devices and services to screen and monitor health and overall well-being.

The initial product offering from iMPak will be aimed at helping patients and physicians manage pain. iMPak’s Health Journal for Pain is a portable, lightweight, digital, NFC-enabled diary that allows patients to record their pain levels before and after their prescribed medication regimen, providing physicians with readily available patient information and reports. 

Apple has made public a patent detailing an NFC-enabled iPhone application that would allow customers to receive information on the products they’re shopping quickly and easily, according to Apple Insider.

The 83-page document, titled “System and Method for Providing Content Associated with a Product or Service,” describes how the new “Products +” app could help customers make more informed decisions about the every day products they buy. 

Frost & Sullivan has released a new report predicting a 6.2% jump in South Korea’s shipment of smart cards in 2010, rebounding from last year’s slump in demand. By the close of 2010, an estimated 49.6 million units are expected to be shipped, up from 46.7 million in 2009.

Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Navin Rajendra expects shipment growth rates to continue rising till 2015 given the nation’s appetite for newer and better technology. 

Retailers in the UK are lobbying for emerging payment technology, viz. contactless payment, to be cheaper to process than current debit and credit cards, which are running them hundreds of millions of pounds in processing fees a year, according to The Register.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), each cash transaction costs retailers an average of 2.1p to process ($.03), while debit card transactions cost 8.9p ($.13) - nearly doubled from five years ago - and credit card transactions cost a whopping 33p ($.50). 

NXP Semiconductors and Toppan Forms announced that their jointly developed NFC reader/writer module “TN33MUE002L” has been adopted by Lenovo in three ThinkPad laptop models for the global market: the T410, T510 and W510.

When built into a PC or a peripheral device, the module solution supports a variety of security and convenience features enabling transactions such as online banking, e-commerce, e-government online access and secure log-in for PCs.