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Google said to be preparing NFC checkout trials for San Francisco and New York City
Google does not sell hardware, Eric Schmidt told us as much, but the company has few qualms about buying the stuff up. Bloomberg is reporting, on the authority of a pair of well informed sources, that the Mountain View team is about to buy up "thousands" of VeriFone's NFC payment terminals, with a view to installing them in stores across San Francisco and New York City. Those two technophile cities represent the most receptive audience NFC is likely to get in the US, and Google will be hoping that users there will be able to appreciate the convenience of being able to swipe their Nexus S (or other similarly equipped handset) to complete payments. We already know that Schmidt and co. consider the concept of "mobile money" a priority and there have been rumblings of Google setting up its own payment system, which together make this hookup with VeriFone appear highly credible. Bloomberg expects the trials to commence within the next four months, just in time to make iPhone 5 users green with envy.
iPhone 5 won't have NFC, say insiders at UK carriers
The Independent is starting our week off on a sour note with the information that Apple's next iPhone won't have NFC hardware built in. Near Field Communication has found itself coming to the fore this year, thanks in large part to the Nexus S touting it as a major feature, however sources at "several" of the UK's major carriers have told the newspaper that Apple intends to skip on it for this year. That intel is reportedly coming directly from meetings with the Cupertino brain trust, which is said to be dissatisfied with the current lack of a clear, universal NFC standard. It's generally been Apple's wont to omit or delay features it doesn't feel it can implement well, and NFC looks fated to be another one on that list.
Morpho's NFC / WiFi-enabled keyfob brings wireless payments, card management to the everyman (video)
Not interested in picking up an NFC-enabled smartphone? No matter -- Morpho's got you covered. The outfit was demonstrating a newly finished Simlink NFC keyfob here at Mobile World Congress, intended to provide contactless payment capability for those who lack it in their existing mobile. Rather than stopping at just payments, this dongle also supports frequent flier cards, membership accounts and pretty much any other members-only situation that may ever use NFC check-ins and registration. There's even a WiFi module here and an onboard web server, enabling any WiFi-enabled phone to immediately see your most recent transactions as well as what data / cards you have stored on the device. We're told that the onboard battery can last around a week if you don't use it continuously, and a simple micro-USB connector is responsible for charging. The only unfortunate part is the size -- it's hardly inconspicuous, but we're guessing revision two will lose quite a bit of weight. This particular model should go on sale by the end of Q4, with pricing to be determined. Head on past the break for a brief demonstration, you big spender, you. %Gallery-116875%
Esper Dominoes topple without touching, we fall all over ourselves (video)
Quick, what's wrong with this picture? Oh, that's right -- dominoes don't topple all by themselves, do they? But these aren't your average tiles. Constructed by Japanese interaction researchers in 2009, these "Esper Dominoes" each have ZigBee radios inside, and as each stone falls it wirelessly tells the next to follow suit, all down the line. Of course, knowing all that, why would you ever settle for a boring row of five? Hit the break to see what these bones are really capable of, and join us in praying that some entrepreneur mass produces these perfect stocking stuffers before another two years fly by.
LG working on an NFC payment system for Europe, planning launch in 2012
All these upcoming NFC-equipped smartphones wouldn't be worth much without places to use them, so it's good to hear LG's announcement this week that it's working on providing the infrastructure for contactless payments. The Korean company has set its sights on Europe, where it's conducting beta testing of point-of-sale technology that will facilitate paying for goods and services by swiping your phone near an NFC sensor. We're not told whether that phone would necessarily have to be built by LG, though we imagine the company would be well served by including as many devices as possible and just taking its slice of the profits. Whatever LG does, it's looking increasingly safe to assume that having NFC on your phone will be a legitimate asset in the coming months (and not just if you live in Japan).
iPhone 5 and iPad 2 will come with NFC built in, suggests well-connected analyst
You'll no doubt be aware of our (well justified) distrust for anything that passes a tech analyst's lips, but this time's a little different. Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group cites "engineers who are working on hardware" for Apple's latest project in asserting what that project actually is: NFC capabilities are apparently being built into the next generation of iPhone and iPad devices. Contactless payments via NFC have been steadily building up in hype and adoption recently -- at least in the western hemisphere, the stuff is commonplace in Japan -- and Doherty predicts Apple will make its move into the field with some new hardware and an accompanying "revamp" of iTunes. The idea would be to allow the use of iTunes gift card balances and the credit card info Apple already has from you to make swiping payments at compatible retail outlets. Apple is said to be planning enticements, like loyalty credits and points, to get you using its service in the place of the competition, and there are already a couple of software patent applications from the company detailing other potential uses for the technology. All of which could mean absolutely nothing, of course, but this seems like an awful lot of smoke for there not to be a fire under it.
McDonald's to start accepting contactless Visa payments in all UK restaurants by this summer
The UK already has a big old investment in contactless technology with London's rather successful Oystercard travel scheme, but now the whole Kingdom can get a taste for airborne payments thanks to a new initiative from McDonald's and Visa. The two giants of commerce are uniting to bring NFC tech to all of the former's 1,200 fast food restaurants within the UK, allowing hungry Brits to pay for meals costing up to £15 by simply waving their credit card in front of the till Obi-wan-style. Of course, the real excitement of such large-scale NFC proliferation is in the potential to use those automated tills with your Nexus S (which has an NFC chip built right in) and other devices coming up this year that look set to feature the technology. So yeah, Visa had better be working hard on putting together some mobile apps. [Thanks, Steve]
iPhone 4 gets stuck with NFC 'sticker' from Japan's Softbank
One of the lesser known predictions of the Mayan calendar foretells that 2011 will be the year of NFC. The contactless communications stuff looks to be building all kinds of steam in the Western world, but don't lose faith in your current smartphone if it doesn't already have it. Japanese carrier Softbank has responded to complaints about the iPhone 4's NFC deficit -- the FeliCa payment system is pretty popular over in the land of sumo, sushi and sun-rising -- by introducing a new "seal" for the back of Apple's latest and greatest. It sticks on, covering almost the entire rear, but is apparently thin enough not to get in the way of using one of Apple's own Bumpers alongside it. From our reading of the press release, the sticker doesn't actually communicate with the iPhone, it's just a dumb NFC card, but hey, other people don't need to know that when you're swiping payments with your phone, now do they? On sale in February at a price of ¥2,980 ($36).
Visa clears DeviceFidelity's In2Pay mobile payment microSD card for use in smartphones
No iPhone? No problem. If you'll recall, we heard back in May that Visa was in cahoots with DeviceFidelity, with the two trumpeting a not-exactly-svelte In2Pay case that would add contactless payment support to Apple's darling. Today, the rest of the world is finally being taken into consideration. The aforementioned firms have just cleared a new In2Pay microSD solution for use in the real world, with the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the Samsung Vibrant in particular named as compatible. In theory, it seems that nearly any smartphone with a microSD slot could be ushered into the arena, and Visa itself expects to add additional phone models for use with this technology, "including phones based on the Symbian and Windows operating systems." This unveiling is happening after a solid 18 months of testing around the globe, but there's no definitive word on which banks will be offering this to customers. Between this and the sudden interest in NFC, America seems more poised than ever before to slip ever further into an endless pool of debt, and with way less friction than before! We kid, we kid... kind of.
Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP's PN544 NFC chip
Well, color us surprised. Just last Wednesday, Samsung announced that it had developed its very own NFC module in-house, but today we're learning that it came just a few months too late for inclusion in the outfit's forthcoming Nexus S. Right on cue, NXP Semiconductors has come forward today proclaiming its involvement in the first handset to ship with Android 2.3. The outfit's PN544 NFC controller and accompanying open source software stack will be used in the Nexus S, and naturally they've both been "fully integrated and validated on Gingerbread." Of course, only time will tell what sort of applications spring up to take advantage, but we've got a feeling that metro payments and the like could be first in line. Nice of America to finally catch up, right?
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network
Just in time for the total economic collapse of Europe and the rise of the cyber-nomadic tribes, the kids at Discover, Barclaycard, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have a name for their mobile phone-based payment system: Isis. Essentially it remains what we heard from Bloomberg a few months back: a system for using an app on your phone to send payments to a POS system using NFC technology. The Isis team thinks it has "the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis," and we wish them the best. But we know how it all ends anyways: with the lucky among us dead, and the rest of us living in caves, hiding from death-dealing robots, and bartering for what we can't scrounge from the ruins of our once-great cities. PR after the break.
Duracell myGrid USB Charger gives your Kindle 100 extra hours of life for $35
While Energizer's moving forward with its newfound Qi partnership, its bunny-less arch rival seems content right where it's at. Duracell's WildCharge-based myGrid charging mat, which was actually introduced over a year ago, is finally gaining a second good reason to purchase one: the myGrid USB Charger. The nugget you see above is a rechargeable Li-ion battery with a USB output, and according to Duracell, there's enough juice in there to extend the life of most smartphones by four hours and the life of most e-readers (Kindle included) by up to 100 hours. It's available today at CVS, Walmart, Target and Amazon for $34.99, and that does indeed include both mini-USB and micro-USB adapters. The full release awaits your eyes after the break.
ASSA ABLOY trials remote hotel check-ins, unlocking your room with NFC cellphones (video)
Just think of it, no more hanging around your hotel's front desk like some unrefined homo erectus. The Clarion Hotel in Stockholm is starting up a new pilot program to allow visitors to check in and collect their room key without the repugnant need for speaking to an actual human being -- it can all be done with an NFC-equipped mobile phone. Provided your smartphone can do the near-field communications dance, all your information can be remotely downloaded, stored, and wiped (if need be), and you can even check out from a room using the accompanying application. Samsung handsets are being provided to selected customers during the period of this trial, though once its four-month incubation period is over, you'll have to bring your own bit of advanced telephony to avoid the queues. We're sure you'll think of something. Video and full press release after the break.
Energizer Qi wireless charging base station spotted in the wild
It's taken quite awhile to go from christening to shipping, but Qi looks just about ready to make its mark on the public. And on Powermat's bottom line. We've known all along that Energizer was a huge proponent of the protocol, and now we're finding that review units are making their way out to the media. YouTube user akaTRENT seems to have gotten his earlier than most, and he's been so kind as to offer up an unboxing of the inductive charging station as well as a sleeve for the iPhone 3GS. We're planning on giving this same setup a whirl in due time, but if you're interested to see how this guy looks in the flesh, there's a play button with your name on it just beyond the break.
Sony and Global HID to unify FeliCa and NFC laptop reader technologies
Sony and Global HID are coyly batting their eyelashes at each other over a memorandum of intent to jointly develop an embedded contactless smart card reader platform for laptops. The idea is to create a single reader compatible with Sony's popular FeliCa solution in Japan as well as NFC, HID Global's own iCLASS, and more. As a refresher, about 315 million FeliCa cards are in circulation worldwide with another 67 million FeliCa-capable mobile phones in Japan used for electronic payments, access, interactive advertising, and membership rewards systems. Hell, Sony's even got a FeliCa reading remote control. The dark arts of Near Field Communication have been given a boost recently with support from Nokia and the US carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in on the action. So let's ink a contract already fellas, anything that will unify all these "standards" into a common embedded laptop reader sounds like a good idea to us.
Visa rolling out payWave mobile phone payments in NY subway and taxis
DeviceFidelity's mobile twist on Visa's payWave system is a nice little solution to the fact that nobody's bothered to build contactless payment chips into US mobile phones just yet -- DeviceFidelity just stuffs the Visa smart chip circuitry into a microSD card and lets you on your way. Of course, this supplants the much needed additional storage on an Android handset, and requires a chunky add-on case for the iPhone, but at least it's a start. Visa will now start allowing those payWave-enabled devices to make contactless payments at subway turnstiles and taxi backseats in New York City as part of a new trial for the tech. Of course you've been able to do this with all sorts of chipped credit cards already, but there's something very future-ey about swiping your phone to make a payment -- now how about ditching the clunky add-ons and building some of this circuitry in by default?
Fujitsu says new wireless, contact-less charging system could hit products by 2012
There may be an increasing number of wireless charging devices available these days, but actual contact-less charging systems have so far been confined to experiments and slightly disconcerting demonstrations. It looks like Fujitsu could be set to change that, however -- the company has just announced that it will unveil a new system later this week that can charge several gadgets simultaneously over a distance of "several centimeters," and it says that it could hit cellphones and other products as soon as 2012. That system is apparently based on magnetic resonance technology, which Fujitsu notes can in theory work over distances as great as "several meters," although the efficiency is greatly diminished -- it reportedly has an efficiency of 85 percent at 15 centimeters. Details are otherwise still a bit light at the moment (including word of any actual products), but you can be sure we'll be keeping a close eye on this one.
Visa gets Bank of America on board for mobile payments trial, starting in New York next month
It didn't take long for Visa to react to the three-headed beast of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon entering the mobile payments arena. The world's foremost payment processing company has just announced that it's about to start a trial of its contactless payment system in partnership with Bank of America. Kicking off in the New York area this September and lasting through the end of the year, the scheme will most likely involve the MicroSD NFC communicator and In2Pay iPhone case that DeviceFidelity has been developing for Visa. No disclosures are being made on the size of this pilot scheme, though we're told that only a "select" group of employees and customers will be getting the mobile payment chips. Don't worry if you miss out on this one, though, as a similar trial is scheduled to begin in October with US Bancorp. That should give you enough time to turn yourself into a high-rolling select customer, right?
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile team up to transform your smartphone into a credit card
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.
Qi wireless power standard finalized, universal contactless chargers look closer to reality than ever
The Wireless Power Consortium took a big step forward this past week with the confirmation that its precocious Qi interoperability standard has been finalized. Composed of three documents setting out the interface, performance and compliance requirements, the new dictum has set itself the not inconsiderable challenge of making wireless charging universal, so that any Qi-approved phone can soak up juice from any Qi-verified base station, dock or omnitool. This first spec is limited to devices requiring no more than 5 Watts, an appropriately humble early goal, though cauldrons are already bubbling with ideas for laptops and the like. We just hope the impressive list of big time companies on the Consortium will succeed in taking Qi into the mainstream -- who here hasn't dreamt of their phone being compatible with the Touchstone? [Thanks, MrStringTheorist]
