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Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Checks not in the mail PAGE 2 - 0 views

www.marketwatch.com/...-paper-checks-into-e-transfers

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Nonetheless, consumers should keep a close eye on bank statements to ensure everything is correct.
  • "Your bank can basically turn back any transaction within 60 days," said Rob Drozdowski, a regulatory specialist with America's Community Bankers, a trade association of community banks. "It's important to review your statements within 60 days and get back to your financial institutions with any issues."
  • Check regulations, which date back to the 1940s, set no time limit for the bank's reimbursement and don't mandate an investigation. If the bank refuses to investigate your claim on a standard check transaction, your only recourse is to sue.
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  • Consumer protections are in place Still, electronic funds transfers are governed by stronger consumer protections than those for regular check transactions. If, say, the wrong amount is billed, the bank must temporarily reimburse the consumer within 10 days while the bank investigates the situation, Hillebrand said.
  • But even absent errors, some find the switch to electronic scanning an unwelcome change. "I write the check so I can track it with the check number," Hicks said, but the check number didn't appear on her bank statement.
  • "If I wanted to pay everything (electronically), I could call on the phone to pay it, or give them a credit card," she said.
  • When making a purchase at a store, it's possible to stop the electronic check scan before it starts to pay by cash or credit card, but in the case of a mailed payment, the opportunity to opt-out varies by merchant.
  • "With paying bills, it's really up to the company to decide whether they offer an opt-out. In practice, our understanding is almost all companies are providing an opt-out as a customer service, but it's really their decision," said Michael Herd, spokesman for NACHA.
  • NACHA has proposed a rule requiring companies to offer opt-out. If and until that passes, the only option for unhappy consumers is to switch merchants. For her part, Hicks is seeking another phone company.
  • And recently, she tried to pay by check at a Wal-Mart store. The cashier wanted to scan the check, but Hicks said she wanted it processed as a regular check.
  • "They said we don't do that anymore. I said I don't shop here anymore."
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

More retailers turning paper checks into e-transfers - MarketWatch - 0 views

www.marketwatch.com/...-paper-checks-into-e-transfers

3BT_NFC mobile payments

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  • SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- When an unidentified $30 debit showed up on her bank statement as an electronic funds transfer, Cheryl Hicks was mystified.
  • Each month, three electronic transfers go through her account -- and this wasn't one she recognized. "It just said ACH debit and the amount," said Hicks, a 33-year-old communications manager who lives near Everett, Washington.
  • Hicks soon discovered her phone company transformed the paper check she sent for payment into an e-transfer, and her bank failed to list either the check number or the recipient on her statement.
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  • Hicks' inability to readily identify the EFT debit illustrates a mounting bookkeeping problem some checking customers are encountering as banks and retailers seek to minimize the handling of paper checks to cut costs and boost profit.
  • "While the EFTs are helpful to everybody and clearly more efficient, I'm not sure the banking system has adequate safeguards," said Kent Phelps, a vice president of software engineering for WitsEnd Software, which develops programs enabling check scanning.
  • Customers lack the ability to set parameters on the practice, he said. "I ought to be able to tell the bank 'I'm going to authorize EFT, but I want to be called if its over $5,000 or will empty the bank account."
  • A fast-growing number of U.S. retailers are scanning images of checks into banks' computer systems and destroying the originals. An estimated 461 million check payments have been converted into e-payments since January 2002, according to NACHA, the Electronic Payments Association.
  • Meanwhile, a law called Check 21 will go into effect next October allowing banks to send checks to each other electronically, eliminating the need to transport them manually from bank to bank, and authorizing check "substitutes" to be used in a court of law.
  • Banks and merchants say electronic check scanning helps detect fraud more quickly, while also saving 5 to 25 cents a transaction, according to NACHA.
  • Some problems arise In bank-to-bank electronic transactions, the check payment moves faster through the system -- meaning consumers should no longer count on a three- to five-day lag time. Otherwise, check-writers are unlikely to notice a change, aside from receiving copies of their returned checks in lieu of the originals.
  • Some consumer advocates warn that many merchants aren't fully educated in the legal ins-and-outs of check scanning. Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney with Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, said she's received complaints that companies have run checks through twice, once as an electronic transfer and again as a regular check.
  • "There are a lot of merchants who don't really know what the rules are," Hillebrand said. "The merchant thinks 'you owe me money, I have this check here because I didn't send it in last month, I'll send it through now.'
  • "The fact that that is inconsistent with NACHA rules and probably illegal, the merchant doesn't know and hasn't been educated."
  • Hicks couldn't find any notice on phone bills that her checks would be converted to electronic transfers, though the NACHA rules governing the process require companies to notify consumers every time they plan to convert a check into an electronic payment.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Transaction Systems Architects reports third quarter results - 0 views

www.finextra.com/...announcement.aspx

3BT_NFC mobile payments

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  • Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSAI), a leading global provider of enterprise e-payments and e-commerce software, announced today that revenue for the third quarter ended June 30, 2004 was $72.5 million, a decrease of two percent over the same quarter last year.
  • Net income was $18.7 million, or $.49 per diluted share, which includes a net one-time tax benefit of $10.6 million, or $.28 per diluted share. This net one-time tax benefit is attributed primarily to certain tax restructurings and associated tax elections related to the Company's MessagingDirect Ltd. subsidiaries. Net income of $18.7 million, or $.49 per diluted share, compares to a net loss of $1.9 million, or a net loss of $.05 per diluted share, which included a goodwill impairment charge of $9.3 million, for the third quarter of fiscal 2003.
  • For the third quarter of fiscal 2004, revenues were comprised of software license fees of $37.5 million, maintenance fees of $23.1 million and services fees of $11.9 million. The Company's recurring revenue was $45.5 million, or 63 percent of revenue, and non-recurring revenue was $27.0 million, or 37 percent of revenue. Recurring revenue consisted of monthly license fees of $20.2 million, maintenance fees of $23.1 million and facilities management fees of $2.2 million.
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  • Operating income was $13.0 million, with an operating margin of 17.9 percent, compared to operating income of $4.7 million, with an operating margin of 6.3 percent, in the third quarter of fiscal 2003. Operating cash flow was $23.1 million with a cash balance of $158.9 million, compared to operating cash flow of $12.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2003, an increase of 91 percent.
  • For the nine months ended June 30, 2004, revenue totaled $223.1 million, compared to $205.5 million for the same nine-month period in fiscal 2003, an increase of 9 percent. Operating income for the nine months ended June 30, 2004 was $42.5 million compared to $23.4 million, which included a goodwill impairment charge of $9.3 million, for the same period last year, an increase of 82 percent. Operating margin was 19.1 percent for the first nine months of fiscal 2004, compared to an operating margin of 11.4 percent for the same period last year. Operating cash flow was $44.7 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2004, compared to $26.1 million for the same period last year, an increase of 71 percent. Net income was $36.7 million, or $.97 per diluted share, compared to $5.2 million, or $.15 per diluted share, an increase of 604 percent for the same nine-month period in fiscal 2003.
  • During the quarter, the Company added 13 new customers while maintaining a worldwide presence of 76 countries. ACI Worldwide, the Company's largest business unit, added seven new customers during the quarter. Solutions licensed to these customers included BASE24®, BASE24-es™, WINPAY24™, and ACI Proactive Risk Manager™. ACI Worldwide also licensed capacity upgrades to 13 customers and licensed seven new applications to existing customers during the quarter.
  • Insession Technologies, the Company's e-infrastructure business unit, added six new customers and licensed 12 new applications to existing customers during the quarter. Solutions licensed to new and existing customers include GoldenGate™, WorkPoint®, VersaTEST™, WebGate, SafeTGate, ICE™, Automated Operator™ and AutoDBA™.
  • IntraNet, the Company's international payments and message processing solutions provider, added one new Money Transfer System™ customer. IntraNet also licensed one capacity upgrade and entered into 17 services contracts with existing customers during the quarter.
  • The Company completed the third quarter of fiscal 2004 with $232.8 million in backlog. Included in backlog are all software license fees, maintenance fees and services specified in executed contracts to the extent that the Company believes that recognition of the related revenue will occur within the next twelve months. Recurring backlog includes all monthly license fees, maintenance fees and facilities management fees and amounted to $173.6 million. Non-recurring backlog includes other software license fees and services and amounted to $59.2 million.
  • "We are pleased with the quarter's and year-to-date financial results," said Gregory D. Derkacht, President and CEO. "We continue to make progress on our tax-planning initiatives and other projects, and we look forward to building on our worldwide leadership position in the financial services sector with our proven software solutions."
  • The Company has revised its revenue estimate for fiscal 2004 from a range of $282 to $292 million to a range of $291 to $296 million. The Company has also revised its EPS estimate from $.74 to $.83 to $1.10 to $1.17, which includes the $.28 net one-time tax benefit.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Philips Pushes New Near Field Communication Tech - X-bit labs - 0 views

www.xbitlabs.com/...20040831055742.html

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Near Field Communication (NFC) technology evolved from a combination of contactless identification and interconnection technologies. It combines the functions of a contactless reader, a contactless card and peer-to-peer functionality on a single chip. It operates in the 13.56MHz frequency range, typically over a distance of a few centimeters.
  • Consumers will first see NFC technology appear in their most commonly utilized personal device – the mobile phone. With NFC, the mobile phone transitions from running primarily voice applications to becoming a more personalized device that can let you conduct secure payment transactions, gain access to public transportation, building access and store digital rights. In essence, the mobile phone becomes a point-of-sale terminal, a ticket counter, keys to your building, a transport card, a debit/credit card and an electronic business card all in one easy to use device
  • Users of Samsung’s mobile phones and other devices that include Philips NFC chips will be able to access content and services in an intuitive way. For example, a Samsung mobile phone equipped with NFC technology could automatically connect with an NFC-enabled PC or TV, simply by holding them next to each other, in order to transfer digital pictures or other data, according to the statement of two companies.
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  • It is unclear how the NFC will interact and co-exist with widely available communication technologies, such as Bluetooth.
  • NFC technology is standardized in ISO 18092 and ISO 21481, ECMA (340, 352 and 356) and ETSI TS 102 190. NFC is also compatible to the broadly established contactless smart card infrastructure based on ISO 14443 A, which is Philips MIFARE® technology, as well as Sony’s FeliCa card.
  • Philips Electronics Tuesday said its newly-developed Near Field Communication technology had been chosen by Samsung Electronics for use with its new mobile phone. The technology will simplify the process of communication between devices located next to each other.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Near-field comms tested at Atlanta arena - 0 views

eetimes.com/...-comms-tested-at-Atlanta-arena

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • ATLANTA — The first large-scale test of next-generation mobile phone applications in North America using near-field communication (NFC) was unveiled at Philips Arena here Wed. (Dec. 14). The trial for mobile phone applications includes "contactless payments," mobile content and premium arena services.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Samsung phones to double as wallets * The Register - 0 views

www.theregister.co.uk/...samsun_philips_mobile

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Samsung mobile phones look set to double as m-wallets as the mobile phone manufacturer signs a Near Field Communication chip deal with Philips.
  • Through the use of Near Field Communication (NFC), Samsung mobile phones will be transformed into multi-functional devices from which users can conduct secure m-payment transactions, gain access to public transport and buildings or download event tickets, the company claims
  • "Joining forces with Philips for the further development of NFC-enabled devices is part of Samsung's commitment to change the way information and services are paid for, distributed and accessed by all consumers," said JK Shin, senior vice president of the research and development team at Samsung.
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  • NFC is a type of wireless technology that allows devices to exchange small amounts of data across short distances - approximately four inches. Devices with in-built NFC can facilitate m-payments, simply by holding the devices close to each other. Users with multiple NFC-enabled devices, such as laptops, handheld computers, digital cameras, or mobile phones, can store personal payment details on each machine and all NFC-enabled devices are able to interact, allowing for quick and easy exchanges of money between individuals.
  • Samsung is the second major mobile manufacturer to sign up with Philips; Nokia is aiming to release its range of NFC-enabled mobile phones by the end of 2004. By 2009, around half of the world's mobile phones will feature NFC chips, according to analysts.
  • Mobile phones will be the first of many consumer products to embrace NFC technology. It is likely that consumers will soon see TVs and PCs equipped with NFC chips, enabling consumers to view images on from their mobile phones on their TVs, for example.
  • In September 2002 Philips formed a strategic alliance with Sony to co-ordinate on the development of NFC technology. Philips uses NFC in its Mifare contactless smartcard and Sony has its own FeliCa contactless NFC smartcard. Together, the companies are better able to deal with issues such as security and future product development.
  • In March 2004 Philips, Sony and Nokia linked up to form the NFC Forum with the aim of promoting common standards of the technology and ensuring compatibility between devices and services. The forum will also encourage other companies to adopt the technology.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Trade Your Wallet for Wireless - 0 views

www.wired.com/...64778

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • People fed up with the proliferation of credit cards, IDs and key cards that fill their wallets to bulging may soon have an alternative. New technology could bundle such functions into just one item: your cell phone.
  • Near Field Communication technology, jointly developed by Sony and Royal Philips Electronics, lets wireless devices connect to other devices nearby and transfer data, from payment information to digital pictures. Samsung Electronics and Philips say they are developing cell phones with embedded NFC chips that could double as debit cards or electronic IDs. The companies plan to begin field trials toward the end of the year.
  • Such phones are already available in Japan and Korea, where users can charge their phones with virtual cash, then wave them near NFC-enabled machines to buy anything from a soda to lunch. But it remains to be seen how Americans will react to the devices, which are not yet available outside Asia, said wireless technology analyst Allen Nogee of In-Stat/MDR.
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  • "Americans seem to be more skeptical of new technology like this," Nogee said, largely because of security and privacy concerns.
  • However, Nogee said the systems seem to have adequate security measures -- like requiring personal identification numbers, so thieves could not make purchases -- and could provide consumers with added protections in some cases.
  • "In theory, merchants will have wireless devices they can bring to you," he said. "When you buy something in a restaurant, you have to give them your card. They go off with your card and could be writing down your number. With this, they'd bring a portable device to your table and (the transaction) would be encrypted."
  • But Nogee said some apprehension about privacy might be well-founded.
  • "A carrier, if they wanted to, could know exactly where you are any time of day, who you're calling, and now they can know what you're purchasing and where," Nogee said. "So if you tie all these things together, that's quite a lot of information available on you."
  • Payments are not the only potential use for the technology. Philips and Samsung have suggested NFC devices could also work as mobile transit passes for users who would swipe their phones to get access to public transportation, and as secure building-access keys and electronic business cards. The technology could also let users swap digital music, photos or other files between devices.
  • Don't go throwing away your wallet just yet, though. The companies have not set a date for when the phones will be for sale in the United States. And even if security and privacy worries are allayed, the technology will need to be widely usable for consumers to adopt it. That means NFC devices from different manufacturers must be interoperable and integrated to work with the credit card infrastructure.
  • To that end, Nokia, Philips and Sony formed the Near Field Communication Forum in March to promote implementation and standardization of NFC technology. Philips is also working with Visa to encourage support of the technology.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Cingular to test near-field cellphone services in Atlanta -- Engadget - 0 views

www.engadget.com/...-cellphone-services-in-atlanta

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Looks like Cingular will work with Chase, Visa, Nokia, Philips and a host of other bigshots to test next-gen NFC (near-field communication services, ala FeliCa) for cellphones at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main benefit of near-field technology is the ability to use a cellphone to pay for products; just wave your phone in the general direction of a point-of-sale terminal at the Arena, and you can buy your hot dogs and brew without missing half of the game. The test will be open to Atlanta Hawks season-ticket owners, who will also have to have Chase Visa accounts (Mastercarders might find this old hat) and be willing to use Nokia 3220 phones modded with an NFC chip. We hope that Cingular and Nokia are at least giving the passholders the phones. It's bad enough being a Hawks fan — these dudes should get something more for their loyalty than an offer that requires them to ante up another $150.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Visa, Philips team to promote 'contactless' credit card - 0 views

eetimes.com/...romote-contactless-credit-card

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Visa, Philips team to promote 'contactless' credit card PARIS — Visa International and Royal Philips Electronics have unveiled an exclusive partnership agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop and promote the application of contactless chip technology for payment transactions.
  • Visa, Philips team to promote 'contactless' credit card PARIS — Visa International and Royal Philips Electronics have unveiled an exclusive partnership agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop and promote the application of contactless chip technology for payment transactions.
  • Visa, Philips team to promote 'contactless' credit card PARIS — Visa International and Royal Philips Electronics have unveiled an exclusive partnership agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop and promote the application of contactless chip technology for payment transactions.
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  • Visa, Philips team to promote 'contactless' credit card PARIS — Visa International and Royal Philips Electronics have unveiled an exclusive partnership agreement under which the two companies will jointly develop and promote the application of contactless chip technology for payment transactions.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Nokia announces Near Field Communication products - 0 views

www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • With the Nokia NFC (Near Field Communication) shell on their phone, consumers will be able to access a variety of services and exchange information with a simple touch gesture.
  • The Nokia NFC shell offers consumers access to browsing, and text message services simply by touching tags that contain service shortcuts. Consumers are also able to give their favorite service shortcuts to other users by touching another NFC-compatible device with their phone. In addition, the Nokia NFC shell comes with tags that can be used for creating own personal service shortcuts.
  • The NFC technology evolved from a combination of contactless identification (RFID) and interconnection technologies. NFC operates in the 13.56 MHz frequency range, over a distance of typically a few centimetres. NFC technology is standardized in ISO 18092, ISO 21481, ECMA (340, 352 and 356) and ETSI TS 102 190. NFC is also compatible to contactless smart card infrastructure based on ISO 14443 A, i.e. Philips MIFARE technology, as well as Sony's FeliCa card.
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  • The first mobile phone to work with the new Nokia NFC is the Nokia 3220 (pictured), a tri-band camera phone that is available in two versions: a GSM 900/1800/1900 primarily for the European and Asian markets, and a GSM 850/1800/1900 primarily for the Americas. The Nokia NFC shell is a functional cover developed for the Nokia 3220 phone. The Nokia NFC shell with four tags will be available during the first quarter of 2005 in Europe, and during the second quarter 2005 in the Americas and Asia.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Motorola will add NFC payment function to cell phones | ITworld - 0 views

www.itworld.com/041013motorolanfc

3BT_NFC mobile payments

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  • October 13, 2004, 9:10 AM — Motorola Inc. is the latest company to move towards adding a payment function based on Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to its line of cell phones, the company announced Tuesday.
  • NFC is a short-range wireless technology that can be used for a variety of functions, such as payment, identification and communication. When used for communications, NFC can allow a handset to wirelessly transfer a digital photograph to an NFC-enabled television or download digital music files from a computer
  • The technology is also used in contactless smart cards for payment and transport systems in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
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  • Motorola plans to begin trials of NFC-enabled phones in the U.S. later this year, the company said. The phones will be used with MasterCard International Inc.'s PayPass payment service, it said. Motorola did not specify where the trials will take place.
  • NFC-based payment functions have already been announced by several handset vendors, including Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. They will make products compatible with a payment system developed by Felica Networks Inc., a joint venture between NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Sony Corp.
  • Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics. Co. Ltd. have also announced plans to incorporate NFC-based payment functions in their respective handset lines.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Bluetooth group looks for technology allies - 12/13/2005 - Electronics Weekly - 0 views

www.electronicsweekly.com/...ooks-for-technology-allies.htm

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced it is to work with other wireless technologies looking at the possibility of combining technology, functionality or user interfaces.
  • Technologies being considered include Wi-Fi, near field communication (NFC) and ultra-wideband (UWB).
  • The organisation said it "believes co-operation is the best and fastest way to improve wireless solutions" and claims it has "taken the lead by working to bring all technologies under one wireless umbrella".
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  • The SIG has been working on combining Bluetooth and UWB since May this year and the specification is set for introduction in the first part of 2007 with prototyping following in the latter part of 2007.
  • NFC operates over very short distances - a few centimetres or less - and is optimised for secure communication between devices with minimal user configuration.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Cash, credit or cellphone? Plan offers new way to pay - 0 views

www.canada.com/...story.html

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Leave your wallets at home, people. You'll soon be able to pay by cellphone.
  • Canada's three big wireless service providers are hatching a system that promises to change the way people shop.
  • Bell Canada, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility said yesterday they have set up a mobile commerce company in Toronto to work on a network that would let consumers use their cellphones to pay for everything from vending machine munchies to transit trips.
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  • The jointly owned company, Wireless Payment Services, aims to standardize and commercialize an easy-to-use mobile phone payment system. The carriers declined to say how much they're spending on the initiative.
  • The announcement is the latest example of Canada's wireless providers joining forces to push potentially revolutionary technology.
  • It's also further evidence that cellphones are moving way beyond their traditional use and into music playing, gaming, Internet and other applications.
  • Consumers should expect to see some changes starting next summer.
  • Prepaid wireless users will be affected first. The aim is to allow them to use their phones to buy more account minutes instead of having to visit a merchant.
  • After that, the carriers want to gradually roll out the system at retail points of sale and service centres like ticketing outlets.
  • "What the user will be able to do, ultimately, is to tap or wave their mobile device in front of a point-of-sale terminal to pay," said Jeff Chorlton, president of Wireless Payment Services.
  • Payment will be withdrawn from the user's bank account or charged to a credit card.
  • "All of your payment methods could be contained on your cellphone," Chorlton said.
  • Many handset makers have begun trials to add a payment function to their cellphone product lines. Payment works through a short-range wireless technology called near-field communication. NFC lets users exchange information securely by bringing two electronic devices close together.
  • The technology could forever alter consumer lifestyles, predicts the NFC Forum, an industry group promoting the technology founded in 2004 by Nokia Corp., Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corp.
  • The Forum offers this future scenario on its website: "With Near Field Communication enabled devices, you will make your travel reservations on your PC and download your tickets to your mobile phone or PDA, just by bringing it next to the computer. Then you will check in for your trip by touching your hand-held device to the departure gate kiosk - no paper, no printing."
  • The system will allow retailers and other companies to save money, Chorlton said. "For some merchants, it could represent the roll-out of infrastructure at very low cost because the infrastructure largely exists through hand-held devices."
  • Mobile users in such places as Hong Kong and Finland are already using NFC technology to hop on a bus or buy some new threads. Canadians should take to wireless payment because they already frequently use cashless commerce like debit cards, said Dennis Kira, an e-commerce specialist at Concordia University.
  • "In my mind, the public in general is ready for it."
  • Canada has about 16 million mobile phone subscribers.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Wireless Dynamics releases RFID read/writer SD card - 0 views

www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • RFID tag information can be communicated in real-time to the enterprise database through Wi-Fi, CDMA, GSM or Bluetooth connections associated with PDAs and Smartphones. The SDiD Card allows for safe and secure product and client information storage, updates and processing.
  • The SDiD Card also supports Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allowing consumers to use their devices to access product and entertainment information, compare prices and perform transactions. Consumers can make contactless payments, redeem coupons and points and receive instant promotions and rewards. NFC is a combination of contactless identification and interconnection technologies developed by Philips and Sony. NFC enables short-range radio frequency (RF) communication between personal electronic devices. The NFC based SDiD Card allows PDA and Smartphone users to access product information or entertainment content such as pictures, music and video clips by waving their mobile devices in front of a smart poster or kiosk. Users can also exchange such information with other users through NFC or mobile connection of their devices.
  • Wireless Dynamics offers two SDiD Card versions, the SDiD 1010 and the SDiD 1020. The SDiD 1010 is a NFC-based SD Card supports ISO14443A standard, NFCIP-1, Philips MIFARE tag and Sony's FeliCa tag. It is ideal for contactless payment, advertising and promotional applications.
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  • The SDiD 1020 RFID based SD Card supports ISO 15693, ISO 14443A standards, Philips I-Code SLI and Texas Instruments Tag-it HF. The SDiD 1020 can be customized for industrial, enterprise and government applications.
  • Both the SDiD 1010 and 1020 Cards operate in the 13.56 MHz frequency range, over a distance of typically a few centimeters. The SDiD Card supports PDAs and Smartphones with SD Card slots and an SDIO interface based on Microsoft Pocket PC OS 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, and Palm OS 4.1.
  • Wireless Dynamics Inc. is introducing the SDiD Card, the first RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Reader/Writer SD (Secure Digital) Card in the industry. Users can now utilise their Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and Smartphones as portable RFID terminals. Applications include reading and writing RFID tags for the health-care, pharmaceutical, retail logistics, and other industries.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Mobile payment apps work to make wallets obsolete - 0 views

www.sfgate.com/...article.cgi

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Late last month, I ordered the beverage at Sightglass Coffee in SoMa, grabbed it from the counter and walked out without cracking my wallet.
  • Nobody chased me down because, when I first approached the cafe, the Card Case app on my iPhone detected the store's perimeter and automatically switched on. It broadcast my picture to the barista, who could then tap my pre-entered credit card number to cover the bill. The phone never had to leave my pocket.
  • It felt a lot like buying in the one-click environments of iTunes or Amazon, which is to say it didn't feel like buying at all. Square, the San Francisco startup behind the app, has come close to replicating the frictionless online buying experience in the brick-and-mortar world.
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  • "What we wanted to focus on was removing the mechanics of the transaction and building the relationship between the merchant and customer," said Megan Quinn, director of products at Square, which occupies space at the Chronicle building at Fifth and Mission streets.
  • But, of course, Square isn't the only company working hard to crack the nut of mobile payments - and they all face considerable challenges.
  • Google, Visa, MasterCard, VeriFone, eBay's PayPal division and a joint venture among AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are attacking the problem in various ways. In most cases, those businesses are going a different direction than Square, employing near field communications (NFC) technology that allows people to tap their phone near a terminal to make a payment.
  • Done right, mobile payments can accelerate the monetary exchange, while streamlining the issuance, acceptance and storage of receipts, coupons and loyalty cards. Down the road - once consumer and retail use reaches critical mass - the hope is that people will be able to leave their wallets at home altogether.
  • But there's a chicken and egg paradox: Customers won't start using mobile payments in great numbers until they're accepted in great numbers, and retailers don't have a huge incentive to roll these systems out until customers are clamoring to pay this way.
  • There are only about 150,000 retailers nationwide that accept payments over MasterCard's NFC-based Paypass readers. Google's Wallet payment app works with this system, and industry rumors suggest the next iPhone might as well.
  • Square, which has so far focused on small merchants has about 20,000 that accept Card Case.
  • Another big challenge is human inertia. To get people to download apps, key in credit card numbers and transform a habit they're very comfortable with, mobile payments will have to represent more than a little improvement over what they do today.
  • "You have to offer them a compelling reason to do it," said David Mangini, an IBM executive focused on mobile payments. "At a very, very minimum ... it has to be just as convenient, just as broadly accepted and just as safe."
  • One of the big knocks on basic NFC payments is that tapping a phone near a reader doesn't represent a whopping improvement over swiping a card. In addition, merchants have little to gain by replacing one expensive payment infrastructure with another, some observers say.
  • "It doesn't upset the status quo," said Nick Holland, senior analyst at Yankee Group. "It doesn't really change the original business model and it all goes through the same rails."
  • Receipts, deals Google argues that its NFC-based Wallet app is a big step forward for a few reasons. A single tap replaces not just the payment, but also the exchange of receipts, coupons and loyalty points.
  • On top of that, Google believes it's tying together the on- and off-line retail worlds, by allowing consumers to move the deals they spot on the Web into the Wallet app, where they can redeem them in the real world. Google Wallet also advertises nearby deals when users open up the app.
  • "For the consumer, it's really about tap, pay and save," said Osama Bedier, vice president of payments at Google. "On the merchant side, it's about closing the loop on that advertising."
  • This is a critical goal for Google, too, as it experiences slowing growth in online advertising - 93 percent of commerce still occurs offline, according to Forrester Research
  • For its part, Square steers around the limitations of NFC - as well as the various roadblocks of wireless carriers and credit processing networks - by leveraging the powers of the Internet to process payments. The credit card information is stored online, in Square's secure cloud, not on the device itself.
  • Square, which started by providing small attachments that allow merchants to swipe credit cards using mobile devices, acts as the merchant of record for its customers. This allows the businesses to quickly start accepting credit cards without going through the usual drawn out and expensive process of applying for a merchant account. But it also clearly puts more risk onto Square's shoulders.
  • Square turned on the hands-free feature on its Card Case app, which takes advantage of the so-called geofencing capabilities in the latest version of Apple's mobile software, in an upgrade to the app in November. The feature is only available on Apple devices to date
  • Quinn said "automatic tabs" represents an obvious improvement over traditional payments and it's quickly driving user growth (though the company doesn't disclose user numbers).
  • In addition, retailers have seen revenue leap as much as 20 percent since integrating the app. It drives traffic by highlighting nearby establishments, and the ease of payment encourages customer loyalty, the company says. Tips also tend to go up.
  • Is it safe? But the question that has dogged Square - and indeed hangs over much of the mobile payment space - is security.
  • Early last year, VeriFone CEO Douglas Bergeron blasted Square - its attention-grabbing young competitor - for what he called serious security flaws. In an online video, he argued that any bad actor could use the Square dongle and an easy-to-create app to skim credit card numbers.
  • Square CEO Jack Dorsey, also the co-founder of Twitter, defended the company's security practices in a letter. He also highlighted the inherent insecurity of credit cards, noting that any sketchy waiter is equally free to steal your information.
  • Meanwhile, Quinn argued that Card Case is actually more secure than credit cards because it only works if you're in the location and your face matches the picture that pops up on the merchant's screen.
  • The radio technology behind NFC has taken some security lumps, too.
  • Late last month, a security researcher at a Washington, D.C., conference used a wireless reader she bought on eBay to highlight some weaknesses of radio frequency identification, Forbes reported. She pulled the critical data from an RFID-enabled credit card through a volunteer's clothing, encoded that data onto a blank card and put it to use onstage.
  • Holland said that any new form of payment inevitably creates new forms of fraud. The challenge will be to educate consumers and merchants about how to minimize the risks.
  • "Clearly, having a device always with you and connected is a very inviting target for criminals," he said. "Any safe is only as strong as the key."
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Update: Facebook Has A Mobile Card Up Its Sleeve In Addition To Advertising | paidContent - 0 views

moconews.net/...eve-in-addition-to-advertising

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • For as long as Facebook has been running its Facebook Credits program—the virtual currency that users can redeem on games and other content peddled through Facebook’s network—it has been letting users top up those Credits using their mobile phones. It does this in partnership with companies like (reportedly) Boku and (definitely) Zong, the payments company bought by eBay’s PayPal last year. Users can also top up their Credits via PayPal and credit cards.
  • It’s not known how much, exactly, is purchased via the mobile channel today, but it is an example of how mobile is actually already driving significant revenue for Facebook. “Facebook Credits make a lot of money through mobile phones,” enough that Zong was “growing very fast last year” because of Facebook purchases, according to Frederic Court, a partner with Advent Venture Parnters, one of the VCs that backed Zong before the eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) buy.
  • This is because while sometimes the mobile payments were actually more expensive than a PayPal or credit card transaction, they are often a lot quicker to do, especially if you are in the middle of a game. And, as with other mobile-based payment options, they appeal to those who don’t have or want to enter card details.
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  • Commissions on those Credits netted Facebook $557 million in revenues in 2011. (Facebook writes in the S-1 that the “other fees” that it designates on the same line as Payments was “immaterial.”)
  • At this point, Facebook doesn’t take any commission on Credits that are purchased via mobile: that service—which uses the premium SMS channel to send a code to a user to redeem Credits on the main site, and then charges the amount directly to the user’s mobile bill—already has some other parties taking a cut, including the provider (eg Zong or Boku), the mobile carrier and even another processing middleman. Rather, Facebook’s cut comes in the form of a commission on the payments, similar to what Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) takes for transactions on its App Store. That fee is 30 percent.
  • Could Facebook eventually take more control of its payments, and potentially cut out some of those middle people? Probably not soon, in Court’s opinion. “Zong brought something to Facebook that it didn’t know how to do, and it became very deeply integrated,” he said. “I don’t see them starting to do what Zong does, which is connecting hundreds of operators.” Then again, he added, “When they have a worth of $100 billion with $10 billion on the balance sheet they can do pretty much anything they want.”
  • What’s interesting is that as Facebook starts to expand some of the other functionality on its mobile platform, that will also open up a lot more opportunities in terms of mobile transactions as well.
  • As Facebook enables and opens APIs to get publishers to build apps for its mobile platforms (via the web and apps), “Facebook will make sure those are monetized,” he said. “I have no doubt Facebook will be making money on mobile games and other content given the engagement and scale on mobile. There is an amazing opening there.” Paying for Credits that will actually get used on the device itself, he said, will be “even more natural.”
  • Facebook in the S-1 said it had 425 million monthly active users accessing the social network via mobile devices, with that number outpacing the growth of overall subscribers.
  • “Credits is a wallet that you can top up in all kinds of ways,” he said. “Facebook has created its own currency and has imposed that on anyone offering digital goods on Facebook.” If anything, that currency might have a life outside the platform, to to buy things outside of Facebook.
  • But even with the opportunity for Credits, Court doesn’t see this eventually overtaking revenues from whatever advertising Facebook plans to put on its mobile services “for a very simple reason,” which is down to how those games are played today. “If you look at Zynga, only between two and three percent of people who play actually pay. The rest play for free. Tt will be the same for Facebook on mobile, with only a fraction spending money,” he predicted. “With advertising, 100 percent of the population is exposed.”
  • Even though Facebook has listed “no mobile ads” as one of its risks on the S-1, it could be playing its cards very close to its chest: the last few days has been a lot of speculation already about how soon Facebook will launch those mobile ads.
  • Razorfish (via Digiday) says that it is already working on a pilot for rich-media ads for the social network.
  • The blog Inside Facebook, meanwhile, has put its money down on sponsored stories to be the “most likely” first stab at mobile advertising on the site, with running a mobile ad network the second-most likely option. (That’s one that we explored a bit yesterday as well.)
  • Update: Razorfish’s VP of mobile, Paul Gelb, has made a correction on how his comments were portrayed in the Digiday story (via Twitter): his agency is not working on any mobile ad buying with Facebook. “In the interview I was referring to rich media featured stories, not paid ads,” he said.
  • A Facebook spokesperson, via email, added the following: “We want to clarify that we are not working with any agency to create paid ads on our mobile platform.”
  • Much has been made of the mobile risks that Facebook laid out in its S-1 IPO filing earlier this week. Essentially, it’s seeing/pushing massive growth in mobile, but it still hasn’t tried out advertising, its most effective route to revenues, on this platform. That’s not to say it won’t. But meanwhile, there is another area where Facebook is already making money through mobile.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Google Wallet now Available for Galaxy Nexus on AT&T and Verizon - BriefMobile - 0 views

briefmobile.com/alaxy-nexus-on-att-and-verizon

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Since it was announced some time ago in 2011, Google Wallet has been completely exclusive to the Sprint Nexus S 4G. Every carrier other than Sprint has opposed the Google Wallet program and blocked it from being installed on their devices as they were preparing their own proprietary NFC payments system called Iris. That didn’t stop people from hacking Google Wallet and installing it onto non-Sprint Nexi, but still, we’d like to see more support from the carriers on this. Thanks to some brand new Android Market discoveries, however, it now looks like Google Wallet is officially available for all Galaxy Nexus on Verizon and AT&T!
  • Head over to the web version of the Android Market and search for Google Wallet. If you’re on a Verizon or AT&T (unlocked GSM) Galaxy Nexus, it now says Google Wallet is compatible with your phone! As a day one AT&T Galaxy Nexus user I can confirm it hasn’t always been this way and this could possibly be the first step towards seeing Google Wallet become a more widespread program. If you try to install from the app version of the Android Market it still says incompatible, so it’s probably in the first phase of rollout. Google Wallet is still apparently blocked for Galaxy Nexus users on T-Mobile, but hopefully that changes soon
  • If you are a Galaxy Nexus user on Verizon and AT&T, let us know in the comments if you successfully installed Google Wallet from the web version of the Android Market. I can confirm that installation worked perfect on my AT&T Galaxy Nexus.
Marc-Alexandre Gagnon

Square Now Being Used For Mobile Payments At Political Fundraisers | TechCrunch - 0 views

techcrunch.com/...ments-at-political-fundraisers

3BT_NFC mobile payments

shared by Marc-Alexandre Gagnon on 06 Feb 12 - Cached
  • Jack Dorsey’s Square was unveiled last December as an innovative way to let people quickly and easily accept physical credit card payments from their mobile phone.
  • Square is ideal for taking money at political fundraisers for several reasons.
  • A local flower cart in San Francisco is using Square to take payments from customers. Denim, a jeans store in New York is using Square to take payments from shoppers. We even used Square at this year’s Crunchies to raise money for the UCSF Foundation.
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  • Here’s how Square works: A small device attaches to the phone via the headset/microphone jack. The device gets the power it needs to send data to the phone from the swipe of the card, and sends the information over the microphone connection. The device is compatible with both the iPhone and Android. It’s similar in some ways to PayPal, but anyone can now accept physical credit card payments, too. With no contracts or monthly fees. People are sent receipts by text and email. If you haven’t seen Square in action, check out this video.
  • And now, a new use case has popped up for Square: political fundraising.
  • Square is currently being used in two campaigns. Silicon Valley VC Josh Becker, who is running for state assembly in California’s 21st district, has been using Square at fundraising events. And lawyer Reshma Saujani, who is running for Congress in New York’s 14th district, is using Square at campaign fundraising events, including at an event in San Francisco on Friday.
  • Valued at $40 million even before launch, Square is off to an impressive start. And technology’s most notable investors and leaders seem to think so as well.
  • Currently, if you want to donate money at a fundraising event, you often have to fill out a form and hand over a check or cash at the event. If you don’t have your checkbook or cash handy (which, many of us don’t), credit cards are the only option. You can write down your credit card number and info for fundraisers to charge at a later date, but you have to trust that the fundraiser keeps track of that information and paper.
  • With Square, there is both a convenience added for both the payee and fundraiser. The donation is instantly processed, and Square will send the receipt via SMS or email to the payee. Of course, political contributions and donations are a little more complicated because of the reporting requirements associated with donations.
  • For many types of donations, you need to take the donator’s name, occupation, address, and other information. Currently Square doesn’t allow users to input all of this information but Dorsey says that they are releasing Square’s API to allow fundraisers to build additional applications on top of Square, where they could input all of the necessary data. Once this is enabled, Square will allows fundraisers to eliminate paper collection and payments all together.
  • Dorsey says he’s already getting significant interest from politicians and political candidates across the country, but because Square is in limited beta, is being selective about how the service is distributed. Dorsey expects Square to be open to the public sometime in the next few months.
  • Since then, Square, which has been in limited beta, has been used in a variety of use cases. E.g. philanthopic organization charity:water recently used Square at the SXSW festival to collect donations.
  • Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, investor Ron Conway, Google’s Marissa Mayer, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, Digg creator Kevin Rose, investor Esther Dyson and a host of others have invested in Square. The company also raised funding from Khosla Ventures.
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