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How to start making contactless card and NFC payments on the Tube
Using contactless cards instead of an Oyster to pay your travel fare has been possible on London buses for almost two years. From today, contactless card and NFC payments will also work on the capital's Tube, Overground, DLR and Tramlink networks, as well as on some rail services. For many commuters and regular visitors to The Smoke, using the iconic Oyster card has likely become a habit, and one you're not too bothered about breaking. While the Oyster will continue to be an easy way to get around, there are now several other options to consider. Join us as we explore the new ways to pay -- you never know, you might find one of them that little bit more convenient.
EE's NFC payment app now works on London buses
Last week, EE said its Cash on Tap NFC wallet app would soon work with Tube barriers when they start accepting contactless payments next month. Today, the carrier's announced you don't have to wait to try travelling the NFC way, as Cash on Tap can now be used to pay fares on London buses. The capital's bus network has taking contactless payments from sources other than Oyster cards since December 2012, but EE's claiming it's the first to implement NFC support. Daily fare caps for multiple bus journeys work with any contactless payment method already, just like if you were using an Oyster card, but today Transport for London has introduced a new weekly fare cap for bus travel paid this way. A weekly fare cap will also be introduced on the Tube when contactless payments go live in September.
London's Tube to accept contactless payments from September 16th
The contactless payment feature on your bank card is ideal for speeding up minor purchases, and soon it'll be able to replace your Oyster, too. London buses have supported contactless payments for some time, and Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that come September 16th, they'll get you through the barriers at Tube, Overground and DLR stations as well. The benefit of using your bank card is you never have to top it up, and in addition to the daily cap on travel charges already in place, any method of contactless payment will also be subject to a new weekly cap (Monday to Sunday), whereby TfL figures out the cheapest possible fare for that period. You'll be able to keep track of your journey and payment history via an online account, much like you can with a registered Oyster card now. Implementing contactless payments across the wider London transport network comes after a pilot that's been running since April, but TfL are still looking for new lab rats to test the system before its formal launch.
Loop turns almost any point-of-sale system into a mobile payment machine (hands-on)
In a small shop on University Avenue in Palo Alto, mobile payments vet Will Graylin proudly points out the point-of-sale (POS) system sitting next to the register. "This is a 13-year-old Hypercom," Will explains, emphasizing its age and the lack of modern mobile payment options. Then, he does something we haven't seen before: he puts his iPhone next to the mag-stripe reader, taps a button on his screen and the transaction gets processed as if he'd physically swiped his card. Companies like Google, Isis and MasterCard (among others) are competing with each other to see who can establish an NFC-based mobile payments standard and build a strong enough ecosystem to support it, but Will -- along with co-founder George Wallner -- is approaching the highly competitive and nascent smartphone commerce market from an entirely new direction. The duo's new company, known as Loop, is debuting a new platform that will let you use your phone to make payments on nearly 90 percent of all POS systems in the country, even if they don't have any tech embedded inside that's capable of accepting contactless payments. Continue with us below to see a hands-on gallery and a deeper explanation of what exactly makes this possible.
Lenovo bringing contactless payments to certain NFC-enabled ThinkPads in 2013
Select ThinkPad owners may be making online purchases simply by tapping a compatible credit card to an embedded NFC reader before 2013 is through. Lenovo reps confirmed that the tech would be coming to a yet-to-be-announced array of NFC-enabled ThinkPad tablets or Ultrabooks sometime this year -- processing partnerships are still in the works, so we don't have any details to share there, but if all goes to plan, you could be submitting your card details securely and with ease very soon. The company shared the news during today's Expand conference in San Francisco, shortly after unveiling two new ThinkPad models, including the T431s Ultrabook. Lenovo hasn't confirmed whether that model will offer tap-to-pay support, too, but we certainly wouldn't rule it out. We've seen contactless payments in plenty of smartphones, of course, but widespread tablet and laptop implementation has yet to arrive. Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Visa lets iPhone-toting NatWest and RBS customers pay with NFC cases, join the future
Two can play at the UK-banks-with-NFC-payments game. RBS (and by extension, NatWest) is partnering with Visa Europe to roll out TouchPay, a mobile payment system based around an iCarte case for the iPhone 4 and 4S -- sorry, early iPhone 5 owners. In tandem with a native app, the service allows paying for goods at British shops by tapping the phone at a Visa-capable NFC terminal without needing the short-range wireless built-in. Any purchases under £20 ($32) can even skip the PIN code, if you're just in that much of a hurry to get a Pret À Manger sandwich. Only 1,000 of the 9,000 who pre-registered for TouchPay are getting into Visa's wallet-free initiative at this stage, although all NatWest and RBS customers with one of Apple's semi-recent smartphones can participate once a trial run is over. We're just wondering if and when Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 owners get in on the action.
CyanogenMod releases SimplyTapp NFC payment app for CM9, launches CM9.1
If you decided to change your NFC Phone's OS over to CyanogenMod 9 to avoid all the skinning and restricting, now you have a mobile payment option called SimplyTapp. Produced by the modding group and two of its members, the app requires free or paid NFC cards from CyanogenMod or retailers like McDonald's and Whole Foods. Card user info is guarded in the cloud, which "allows separation of the card credential from the vulnerable handset," for increased security, according to CM and SimplyTapp. CyanogenMod also announced a new version of its ICS-based CM9 OS, version 9.1, which will fix bugs and add new devices. A stable release will be coming soon, but meanwhile, why not head over to Mickey D's and freak them out by paying with your modded Galaxy Nexus?
Isis mobile payment system primed for September launch, supported devices revealed
You've known it was coming, but Isis has been so quiet on the mobile payments front in the past few months that you might've forgotten the score. Now, the joint venture backed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon has announced that it'll debut its system in Austin and Salt Lake City next month. At least part of the delay is attributed to its shift in strategy, when Isis shelved its plans to process payments through the carriers themselves and instead work with MasterCard and Visa. Isis representatives have declined to elaborate on future expansion plans. Coinciding with the recent update that enabled Isis support for T-Mobile's Galaxy S II, MasterCard has come clean with a list of devices that'll receive similar treatment. Specifically, those in the US can expect the Droid Incredible 4G LTE, One X, Amaze 4G, Galaxy S III to gain Isis support. Naturally, the possibility remains open for other devices as well, and if you'd like to see the complete list of candidates, make sure to check out the PDF below.
London Underground: NFC mobile payment technology 'too slow' for the tube
While it's tested the idea several times in the past, London's Tube system won't be getting mobile-based payment technology any time soon. Customer Experience Director Shashi Verma told GigaOM that existing NFC technology wasn't able to drop below the 500 millisecond barrier -- something which Transport for London demands from its high-churn Oyster card-based turnstiles. Verma added, "The concerns are only around NFC technology and not EMV. We are keen to see any progress the industry can make in this area." At least for the near-future, it looks like Brits will have to glue their NFC cards to their phones if they want that contactless payment look while journeying around London.
Samsung and Visa pull the starting trigger on Olympic payment collaboration
Well, it's been no secret that Samsung was hoping to cash in on this summer's Olympic fever. In fact, we all but knew its latest and greatest smartphone was going to be the handset-maker's Olympic Games Phone. Today, however, the union has been made official via an announcement with Visa. Trialists and Athletes sponsored by the brands will have access to a special edition "showcase device" with Visa's payWave payment application onboard. The collaboration is, of course, a drive to push the penetration of contactless payments in both the UK and the world stage. Payments under £20 won't need a passcode, and users will also be able to check their balance and purchase history from the app. It's estimated there'll be about 140,000 contactless terminals in the country by the time the Olympic tanks roll in, so plenty of places to pick up that official merch for the family back home.
MasterCard introduces PayPass Wallet Services, Online and API at CTIA 2012
MasterCard's PayPass is certainly one of the bigger players in the contactless payment scene. But, simply putting a few thousand branded payment terminals in stores across the nation isn't enough. The next step is expanding that empire, not only in terms of locations and handsets, but by turning the phone into just an accessory in a larger ecosystem. PayPass Wallet Services is a new umbrella product that includes an online payment system, a branded service and an API that allows developers to integrate PayPass into their own proprietary offerings. Simply put, PayPass is no longer a product, but a platform. The service remembers not only credit cards, but shipping addresses and other identifying info that streamlines the shopping process, while the API means that others can build value added offerings around PayPass. There's even a dedicated Android app. The company is hoping to have the system ready for a broad roll out by the third quarter of the year. When that time comes, a pile of partners have pledged to support it in various ways. The names on that list should ring at least a few bells: Intel, Barnes & Noble, Newegg, MLB and American Airlines. It all seems pretty impressive (though, we'll reserve judgement till we get to try it out). Your move, Google. Zachary Lutz contributed to this report
Samsung partners with FeliCa for Japanese NFC solutions, unveils 2012 Olympics' mobile payment app with Visa
Across the globe today, Samsung is bringing a number of pushes to broaden NFC adoption. On the island of Japan, the company's sealed a partnership with FeliCa Networks to implement its NFC-Secure Application Module chips in its mobile devices. Notably, the solution is ensures compatibility between Japan's long established Osaifu-Keitai contactless payment services and the newer breed of NFC Types A and B which normally don't play nice together. The chips are touted has having "advanced security" to keep your funds in check, and are expect to hit "commercial deployment" set for 2013. Flying over to London, Samsung and Visa have unveiled the official NFC payment app for the 2012 Olympics, in their continued preparation for the event. Despite the unveil, the application (based on Visa's PayWave) will officially debut for display at Mobile World Congress next week. This comes nearly ten months after the duo announced their plans to further establish NFC-based payment options for London and the event itself. Hit up the two press releases after the break for the full details on the announcements.
Moneto's $30 Android mobile payment kit goes on sale, brings contactless payments to six Samsungs
Not everyone's smartphone has NFC, and of those that do, an even smaller subset have official Google Wallet support. It would seem Mountain View's complacency is Moneto's gain, as the outfit's recently put up for sale its $30 NFC-enabled microSD card -- enabling plebes everywhere sans contactless circuitry to sashay their way into mobile payment heaven. That card is also stuffed with 1GB of storage for your exploits and those plunking down three Hamiltons are also privy to a $10 credit thrown in. There's one caveat, however, as per its website the service currently only works on variants of the Galaxy S (including carrier permutations like the Vibrant, Fascinate and Galaxy S 4G). Support for an additional forty devices is inbound but before committing, we'd peep the latest compatibility info from the horse's mouth in the more coverage link we've included below.
Visa certifies NFC-equipped Android, BlackBerry smartphones for payWave
Despite repeated industry attempts to build a buzz, buzz, buzz around NFC, growth of the promising communication tech has only been stilted by limited, real-world implementation -- not to mention a dearth of enabled devices. This stunted consumer adoption hasn't put a damper on Visa's stride towards a contactless payment future, as the company's just announced a list of smartphones, both here and in Europe, that officially support its payWave system. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S II, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900 / 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 / 9380 can now count themselves among the privileged few that can swipe to pay with the application. If you happen to be rocking any of the phones listed above and are keen to propel your preferred method of payment into the future, you can now pass GO.
Moneto NFC microSD to bring contactless features to any Android phone
DeviceFidelity and Spring Card Systems have teamed up on a NFC-capable microSD card that will hopefully forgo the need of buying specific mobile handsets for the privilege of contactless payments. The card, which has been in development for a few years, houses an NFC radio and antenna that deals with payments through MasterCard's PayPass system. Moneto's iPhone case is already available, offering swipe payment delights for iOS users for $80, and includes $10 of spendable cash. The microSD card is set to land in the next few weeks, pegged at $30. Both will be available at the source below, with plans to support several -- as yet unnamed -- Android devices by Q2, rolling out further throughout 2012.
Galaxy Nexus gets unofficial Google Wallet, leaves rooters feeling flush (update: now root-free)
While it may have arrived with the Nexus name, Google's latest flagship has appeared without Wallet functionality, despite the inclusion of NFC hardware. Fortunately, it hasn't taken long for a few eager Android tinkerers to get it working on the LTE model. There's still a few hiccups and bugs and the phone needs to be rooted and unlocked, so consider yourself forewarned: you're on your own if it bricks. Still, it works -- user Mike Beauchamp was able to add extra funds to his account and make his first NFC McDonalds purchase. His video demonstration awaits after the break, Nexus-toting risk-takers can find a full step-by-step guide at the Google Plus link below. Update: We talked too soon. Those that fear the uncertain future of a rooted handset now have a workaround. An APK is now up for grabs at XDA-Developers that will furnish your new favorite smartphone with Google Wallet goodness, hack-free. Non-US residents, however, still appear to be locked out from adding funds to their account. Let us know how it goes in the comments below. [Thanks all]
Brand Table concept revolutionizes fast food, NFC still won't make it good for you (video)
Jersey girls and boys can now tap and pay their way around, but for the Garden State's myriad of malls, cash'll still have to do. Not so for the Ozzies Down Under who may soon never have to leave the comfort of food court chairs -- if they're packing a Nexus S, that is. Designed as a concept by University of Sydney start-up SDigital, special coaster-like "brand stickers" affixed to eatery "brand tables" would relay fast-food menus to mobile phones via NFC. Hungry, hungry humans would then make their selections, order up and receive a vibrating notification when the food's ready. It's a contactless payment solution not unlike the QkR platform MasterCard demoed for us last month. And given our ever-increasing crawl towards the bleak adult baby form factor of our potential Wall-E futures, we'd say this tech's right around the public release corner. Head on past the break for a video demo of the tukkis-numbing, Foodcourtia tech.
Google Wallet goes to the Garden State, NJ Transit riders get 'tap and pay' privileges
The perks of Google's Nexus S used to lie solely in its unadorned OS. Now, owners of its penultimate Android flagship are about to get some additional mileage out of their Gingerbread-bearing handsets, courtesy of that underused NFC chip. The recently awakened near field communication feature's already been put to public task by Google Wallet and participating merchants, and will now add NJ Transit to its list of contactless payment partners. Select locations throughout the Garden State's transportation network, including Penn Station and Newark Airport's AirTrain, will let owners of Sprint's Nexus S 4G tap-to-pay for tickets at windows and vending machines. Unfortunately, the mobile payment system won't replace your need for an actual physical ticket or monthly pass just yet, and requires you opt-in with either Citi Mastercard or Visa. Still, it's a definite boon for rushed commuters who'll no longer have to juggle their bags, bagels, coffee and phones in an effort to buy a ticket and make it to work on time. Not yet enabled via NFC? Tap-to-erase-spray tans, but that's coming in the Galaxy Nexus, right?
HTC, LG, Motorola, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson to add Isis NFC tech in future phones
Stacking the lineup against Google Wallet, manufacturers HTC, LG, Motorola, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have been drafted by team Isis, agreeing to implement its NFC technology standard into future phone offerings. By garnering multi-manufacturer support, the joint AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon venture is pulling a power move against Mountain View's offering -- currently only functional on Sprint's Nexus S 4G (although that's almost certainly bound to change). Finally gearing up for battle, the crew recently pumped $100 million into the initiative, helping to win support from the aforementioned hardware heavy hitters. For those who aren't ready to buy a new phone just to jump on the NFC bandwagon, Isis says it's working with DeviceFidelity to add the functionality to older models as well. The more devices that have the technology, the better the chance we'll be ditching our leather wallets for the mobile variety. Or so they say. Check out the full PR after the break.
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon give Isis mobile payment network a $100 million boost
How do you compete with Google's new Wallet mobile payment system? Well, a $100 million cash infusion certainly couldn't hurt. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have plans to invest just that amount in Isis, sources told Businessweek. That sum is likely to grow, since taking on Google is no small feat, especially considering Wallet is already off the ground, with nationwide retail partners and support for MasterCard PayPass. Though Isis first made its debut last year, Google Wallet, which was announced in May, has clearly taken the lead. Isis is little more than a top-level website at this point, though with three of the nation's largest carriers providing support, it could have a chance to catch up -- especially if the carriers elect not to partner with Google, leaving Sprint as the sole wireless provider. We're glad to see some potential healthy competition for Wallet, especially considering that it was looking like Google was poised to create a monopoly. We expect much more to come on the Isis front, but in the meantime, hold on to those wallets -- cell phone payments may be in your future, but for now, paper and plastic are where it's at.
