Hasta La Gadget!

Now that Nokia’s gone all-in with NFC and announced that it’ll be blanketing its entire smartphone line with the technology next year, it’s gotta do something cool with it — after all, simply turning a phone into a digital wallet is so 2009! That seems to be where Swipe comes into play, a new software stack Espoo is teasing this week that integrates NFC payments with instant digital receipt uploads to your phone — instead of getting a printed copy — which boosts your treehugger street cred by leaps and bounds. Perhaps even cooler, though, the system reads the receipt once it’s back on your phone and makes a note of the product’s return period so that it can remind you when time’s running out, perfect for getting maximum usage out of that N8 before flipping it back from whence it came. If we had to guess, this might be unveiled in full at Nokia World, which just happens to kick off tomorrow — and we’re on the scene for all the unexpectedly drama-packed action, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, follow the break for the full teaser video.

Continue reading Nokia teases Swipe NFC payment system for digital receipts, warm eco-friendly feeling

Nokia teases Swipe NFC payment system for digital receipts, warm eco-friendly feeling originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZOMGitsCJ  | Email this | Comments

A collection of recently published patents and a new hire at Apple suggest that future iPhones may carry built-in features to replace your credit cards.

Apple recently hired Benjamin Vigier as a product manager for mobile commerce. He’s an expert in near field communication (NFC), a technology that enables devices to exchange information wirelessly over very short distances. It’s the kind of technology that credit card companies have been touting (without much success) recently, where instead of swiping a credit card, you just wave a card or key fob in front of a reader. According to his LinkedIn profile, Vigier formerly directed and developed mobile payment solutions for PayPal and Starbucks.

In addition, Apple in recent months published several patent applications that portray NFC-based hardware and software features utilizing mobile payments for concerts, sports venues, airline ticketing and more.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

A growing number of businesses have been eyeing mobile payments as an alternative to credit cards. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile were planning a joint venture to form a mobile payment system competing with Visa and MasterCard. Such a move would presumably reduce costs to merchants, who are typically charged 3 percent of the purchase price when customers pay with a credit card.

However, as Wired.com’s Eliot Van Buskirk earlier reported, a mobile payment system would face difficulty breaking into the mainstream. In order for mobile payments to gain widespread adoption, merchants would have to purchase new readers, estimated at $200 per unit, and they’d have to be convinced that a large number of customers will be using the new payment system.

Also, a new mobile payment system would raise security concerns. A location that frequently performs wireless transactions would become a prime target for hackers and snoopers. One reason credit cards have been so successful is that they rely on leased lines and dedicated networks, which ensure reliability and security, according to Aaron MacPherson, IDC Financial Insights practice director for payments and security.

“Even if you’re using a mobile phone network, you do not want to be in a situation where you can’t pay because there’s no 3G signal … and the internet is susceptible to brownouts and denial-of-service attacks. It’s notoriously insecure,” MacPherson told Wired.com. “I don’t think either of them can substitute for the card networks.”

From Near Field Communications

See Also:

• Showdown: iPhone 4 vs. HTC Evo 4G
• Visa Case Turns iPhone into Credit Card
• The Death of Cash? Square’s Personal iPhone Credit Card Reader …

Contactless payments made using your phone are hardly a new idea in themselves, but when three of the big four US carriers decide to unite behind it, the time might have come to start paying closer attention. Bloomberg reports that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are about to test the NFC payment waters with pilot schemes in Atlanta and three other cities, potentially aided by partnerships with Discover Financial Services and British bankers Barclays Plc. This would require all-new readers for merchants and embedded NFC chips in phones, but we reckon plenty of people might be happy to pay a small premium to streamline their lives that little bit more and leave the plastic behind. Either way, Visa’s nascent attempts at conquering the mobile just got themselves a big old cabal-sized competitor.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile team up to transform your smartphone into a credit card originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Bloomberg  | Email this | Comments

Past Apple patent applications have already offered some evidence that the company is at least thinking about NFC-enhanced apps on the iPhone, and a recently published application has now tossed out one more possible application: instant product research. That would apparently be done using either NFC (or near field communication) or a simple barcode scan, which would let you easily access product reviews, user manuals and other information about products before you purchase them — the application even includes the example of an NFC-enabled restaurant menu that would let you check nutritional information before you order. Somewhat interestingly, both this and Apple’s previous NFC-related patent application use “+” in the app’s names (Products+ and Concert Tickets+), although that could simply be the work of one patent attorney, and not evidence of an overarching Apple strategy.

Apple patent application details instant product research via iPhone, more NFC possibilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AppleInsider  | Email this | Comments

This ain’t the first rodeo for Visa and DeviceFidelity, and if we had to guess, we suspect it won’t be the last. Just a few short months after teaming up to bring contactless payments to any mobile with a microSD slot, the two are at it again — this time aiming for the oh-so-tantalizing iPhone market. Reportedly, the tandem is toiling away in an effort to concoct a protective iPhone shell with a secure memory card that hosts Vista’s contactless payment app, payWave. As it stands, the product would only function on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, leaving upcoming iPhone 4G / HD / Barhopper buyers out in the cold. As with any other payWave-enabled handset, this would allow users to simply tap and go when checking out, a process that our pals over in Japan have had down for centuries now. If all goes well, market trials of the payment-enabled iPhone are set to begin this summer, or approximately six months too late for anyone to seriously care.

Continue reading Visa and DeviceFidelity working to bring mobile payment functionality to iPhone

Visa and DeviceFidelity working to bring mobile payment functionality to iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 May 2010 14:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments