Worldwide Mobile Payment Users to Reach 141 Million in 2011 – Gartner Says

Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total $86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from 2010 volume of $48.9 billion.

IAB reveals consumers’ spend on mobile increases

Near Field Communication (NFC) was seen as a positive move for mobile with 74% of consumers stating they felt the service would be a good idea. The products that M-Commerce consumers said they would be most happy to purchase via NFC were travel (57%), entrance fees (51%) and drinks/snacks (49%).

Transport for London to accept NFC payments from 2012

Transport for London (TfL) has stated it will support NFC payments on mobile phones in 2012. TfL is now in the process of deploying new contactless card readers on London's tube and bus network. This will enable users of contactless EMV credit and debit cards and NFC mobile phones to 'swipe and go' on the London Underground and associated services.

GSMA Names BARCELONA First Mobile World Capital!

After an 18-month search, the GSMA today announced that Barcelona has been selected as the Mobile World Capital from 2012 to 2018.

Ecosystem

Orange and Barclaycard Announce Samsung Wave 578

4 months ago

by admin in Ecosystem, News, Phones & Devices

Orange and Barclaycard have joined forces with Samsung to produce the Samsung Wave 578, which is the second mobile they’ve launched that supports “Quick Tap”.

Quick Tapuses NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology to enable Orange customers to pay for items using their smartphone. With Quick Tap you can pay for items up to a value of £15 by tapping your phone in stores supporting NFC, which includes McDonalds , Subway, Wilkinson and Little Chef.

In order to use the service you need either an Orange or Barclays credit-card to link with your mobile, as well as a Quick-Tap mobile. The maximum amount you can pre-load onto your smartphone is £100 so that the liability is limited. You can also add a PIN to your transactions and terminate the service if you lose your mobile.

Earlier in the year the Samsung Tocco Quick Tap launched which is an NFC version of the Tocco Lite. That’s now been followed by a second mobile with the announcement of the Samsung Wave 578.

The Samsung Wave 578 has a decent specification that includes a 3.2 inch touch-screen , 3.2 mega-pixel camera and it runs on the Samsung Bada operating system. Other supported features include WiFi, 3G+, A-GPS, Bluetooth and obviously Quick Tap.

If you activate a Quick-tap account now you’ll receive £10 free and a 10% cash-back on all transactions taken in the first 90 days. This implies that Orange and Barclaycard are making a nice commission on the purchases, but they also want the service to be adopted so they might make a loss initially or just break even.

The Samsung Wave 578 will be added to the Orange store in the coming weeks and once we get the price and exact date we’ll let you know.

578 barclaycard orange samsung wave

NRJ Mobile signs full MVNO deal with SFR, has 1 mln users

4 months ago

by admin in Ecosystem, Mobile Virtual Network Operator, News, Phones & Devices

French mobile operator NRJ Mobile signed a full MVNO agreement with carrier SFR. The latter signed a similar deal in June with France’s first full MVNO, Virgin Mobile. According to a recent consultation by telecommunication regulator Arcep, Lycamobile also signed a full MVNO agreement with carrier Bouygues Telecom. Such agreements allow MVNOs to connect their own base stations to the mobile network, providing them with a higher degree of technical independence, and gives them access to more usage data. Separately, NRJ Mobile announced having passed the 1 million active customer mark, three quarters of whom are on postpaid plans. It had 800,000 customers at the end of 2010.

france nrj

Nokia Goes NFC: First NFC Enabled App In Ovi Store

5 months ago

by admin in Ecosystem

A recent update to Nokia’s Symbian operating system (called Anna) activates the NFC chip installed in their C7 phone and the first application featuring NFC technologies has just been added to Ovi Store. Xchange app lets user exchange business cards, photos and other information by touching other NFC-enabled devices. After the touch, information is sent to users by email and contact details are automatically saved in the contacts section. Symbian’s update signifies Nokia’s efforts to reassure developers and consumers that the company is not abandoning the platform and is going to support it until at least until 2016. The updates will be available this week in several countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and India, with more to follow over the next three weeks, said Nokia today in its blog.

Look at the Mark Selby’s interview from Nokia.

Although a long time in coming, the update potentially puts millions more NFC smartphones into the pockets of consumers, with some estimates placing C7 shipment figures at more than 5 million worldwide.

The update activates the NFC chip that has been in the C7 since the smartphone began shipping last October. Nokia had originally announced the forthcoming Symbian update in April, and it was expected to be available earlier.

Nokia has already begun shipping new C7s with the Symbian update onboard, though those shipments only started in recent weeks. Nokia shipped an NFC version of the phone, called the Astound, in the United States through T-Mobile USA earlier in the year.

The update improves the user interface and other features for the C7 and for other non-NFC Nokia phones, the N8, E7 and C6-01 (read more here).

NFC nkoia

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