Westpac bank in Australia is piloting a software point of sale (sPOS) solution that will enable merchants to accept contactless payments on their Android NFC smartphone or tablet without needing any additional accessories or hardware.

Westpac’s Tap on Phone feature “allows businesses to download a point-of-sale app and start accepting secure, contactless payments from their compatible Android mobile phone or tablet,” the bank says.

“Small businesses can receive customer payments via cards, mobile wallets and wearables when a card or device is held over the phone or tablet’s NFC reader.

“Customers are required to enter a PIN for payments above $200 (US$139) for added security.”

Westpac is currently trialling the feature with select small business customers prior to it “becoming more widely available in early 2023”.

Westpac to let merchants accept contactless payments on Android NFC smartphones in Australia was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

The delivery of payment cards worldwide will continue to be “severely” impacted by global chip shortages and disruptions in the supply chains of other materials into and throughout 2023, according to a Smart Payment Association (SPA) forecast.

“This ongoing supply challenge results from a range of factors including post-Covid recovery leading to a surge in demand for semiconductors,” the researchers say.

“Additionally, payment card deliveries are suffering from extended lead times for key raw material supplies such as plastic, metal and other components of a smart card.

“This is due to various factors including recent Covid-related factory shutdowns in China, and global supply chain disruptions created by materials shortages and freight capacities still not at the pre-Covid level.”

The SPA announced that annual global shipments of contactless payment cards and modules exceeded 2bn for the first time during 2021 and that “the figures would have been higher had it not been for the chip shortage affecting the industry” earlier this month.

Global chip shortages to continue impacting contactless card delivery into 2023 was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Meta is planning to develop a digital wallet that will enable consumers to purchase digital items such as digital clothing and music, confirm proof of ownership and manage their identity when accessing future metaverse services, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has revealed in a Facebook post.

The company — which changed its name from Facebook to Meta in 2021 — is also rebranding its payment service Facebook Pay as Meta Pay as “the first step” towards introducing “a digital wallet for the metaverse”.

“In the future there will be all sorts of digital items you might want to create or buy — digital clothing, art, videos, music, experiences, virtual events and more,” Zuckerberg says.

“Proof of ownership will be important, especially if you want to take some of these items with you across different services.

“Ideally you should be able to sign into any metaverse experience and everything you’ve bought should be right there.

“There’s a long way to get there, but this kind of interoperability will deliver much better experiences for people and larger opportunities for creators.

“That is, the more places you can easily use your digital goods, the more you’ll value them, which creates a bigger market for creators. The more easily you can transact, the bigger the opportunity for creators should get as well. We’re looking forward to building this out.”

The rebranded Meta Pay service will be “the same easy, secure way for you to shop, send money and donate to causes you care about across our technologies, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as anywhere you previously would’ve seen the Facebook Pay button while shopping online,” the company explains.

Current Facebook Pay users will be able to start using Meta Pay without needing to take any action as their account details, payment method and settings will remain the same.

“This change is first rolling out in the US and will roll out globally over time,” the company adds.

Facebook Pay launched on Facebook and Messenger in November 2019.

Zuckerberg unveils plans to launch digital wallet for metaverse transactions was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Rome’s public transport operator Atac is testing the Tap & Go contactless fare payment system already in use on the Italian capital’s subway network on one of the city’s main bus routes prior to implementing it across its entire bus fleet.

Tap & Go enables passengers to pay their fares by tapping their contactless bank card on a turnstile or in-vehicle validator and has recorded more than 11 million taps since its launch on the subway in September 2019.

“The success of Tap & Go in the metro convinced Atac to develop the project by extending it also to the surface service,” the transport operator says.

“The first Bus Tap & Go equipped with a contactless validator will be in service for the next 15 days on line 51, which crosses the historic centre.

“Atac staff will be present on board to illustrate the initiative to passengers, assist them and evaluate their satisfaction.

“The experimental phase will allow the optimisation of the service and testing of the devices in operation and so in real conditions.

“Starting from October 2022, Tap & Go will be gradually extended to the entire surface fleet. The operations will be completed by the end of the year.”

Atac pilots contactless fare payments on buses in Rome was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to enable consumers without smartphones to make transactions with the country’s eNaira central bank digital currency (CBDC) on devices such as feature phones using unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) codes that work in a similar way to SMS messages.

The CBN is adding support for USSD codes to the eNaira in order to enhance financial inclusion by ensuring that “those that do not have smartphones can still transact” via a text-based solution that does not require them to have the eNaira digital wallet app, the central bank’s deputy governor Kingsley Obiora told an IMF African Department Speakers Series conference.

Obiora said that, although almost 70% of Nigeria’s population is now within the financial system “that still leaves us without about 30% of our population out of the financial system and we believe that the CBDC can help reduce that number even more”.

The CBN deputy governor also told the conference that, in addition to “rapid financial inclusion”, the CBDC offered “significant benefits”, including reducing the cost of processing cash, enabling direct welfare payments, reducing the informal economy, improving tax collection, boosting cross-border trade and remittances, reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of payments, and encouraging economic growth,” Nigerian news outlet Premium Times reports.

Nigeria officially launched the eNaira in October 2021 and announced that nearly 500,000 consumers had downloaded the eNaira digital wallet in November 2021.

Nigeria to let consumers use feature phones to make payments with national digital currency was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Public transport users in Costa Rica will soon be able to make contactless fare payments across all the country’s rail and bus networks with their EMV contactless card or device using a national multimodal transit ticketing system.

The National Electronic Payment System for Public Transportation (SINPE-TP) is being rolled out by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) and is one of the first contactless transit ticketing systems in the world to be implemented by a central bank.

BCCR initially launched the system on rail services operated by the state-owned Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) in October 2021 and has now begun working with some 350 different bus operators to make it available on more than 5,000 buses nationwide, starting with seven routes in the capital San José in April this year.

The system currently enables passengers to purchase single flat fares on a pay-as-you-go basis, but “can be configured to apply fare caps and discounts, as well as other fare models that Costa Rican transport services may require in the future”, says transit payment processing provider Littlepay.

“Initially, the system will support payments made using Mastercard, Visa and American Express contactless cards and their linked devices. At a later stage, mobile wallet options such as Google Pay and Apple Pay will be added, as well as mobile QR code payments.”

“The public transport sector has been at the forefront of the BCCR’s strategy for the digitisation of the Costa Rican payment system, with a strong focus on contactless payments,” Littlepay adds.

“The BCCR estimated that incorporating contactless open loop payments into public transport services could reduce cash payments nationwide by 25%.”

Costa Rica revealed plans to introduce the national NFC and QR transit ticketing system in May 2020.

Central bank rolls out national contactless transit ticketing system in Costa Rica was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Residents of Ethiopia will be among the first in Africa to be able to acquire a dedicated contactless health card that stores their digitised medical data — including their Covid-19 vaccination records — and enables them to make that data available to healthcare professionals without needing an internet connection to access online databases.

The Ethiopian Wellness Pass is “an interoperable and offline portable healthcare credential” that allows residents to carry their medical records with them. It is being introduced by the country’s Ministry of Health in order to address challenges around the accessibility and authentication of medical data that arise in many low- and middle-income countries with traditional paper-based systems, the partners behind the solution explain.

“Lack of healthcare data portability has a definite impact on the levels of service utilisation and health outcomes among people in different geographical areas and socio-economic groups,” Dr Lia Tadesse of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health says.

“Therefore, it is very important to solve this great challenge, and it will take a collective response by public and private sectors to reach the necessary scale, and this is why we are excited about this new partnership, one that is designed to enable us to provide the best possible care to our citizens, regardless of where they are.”

The Wellness Pass is being rolled out by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health in partnership with Mastercard, the vaccine alliance Gavi and health consultancy JSI as part of a broader initiative to “enable digitization of health records in the form of contactless cards” in “eligible countries”.

“The partnership aims to implement the Wellness Pass technology through several phases,” the partners add.

“Phase one of the implementation will be focused on Covid-19 vaccination tracking and will be deployed at health facilities throughout the country, including both urban and rural locations, over a 15-month period.

“Phase two plans to scale the use of [the] Wellness Pass across multiple healthcare programs, to be determined in partnership with the Ministry of Health.” 

Ethiopian government adds health records to contactless cards was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

The number of checkout-free contactless stores around the world increased from 87 in 2020 to 252 in 2021 and will rise by more than 90% a year to exceed 12,000 by the end of 2027, according to Retail Banking Research (RBR).

The growth in the number of stores with checkout-free systems using technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, weight sensors and smart carts will be strongest in the USA, China and large European markets, with other regions across the world also expected to see expansion following successful pilot schemes, the researchers predict.

“Amazon has the largest number of checkout-free stores globally, mostly in the USA and the UK, with plans for expansion in these markets and others,” the researchers say.

“These stores use Amazon’s Just Walk Out solution, although other retailers are also using the firm’s technology, including travel convenience store chain Hudson.

“A number of large supermarket chains, including Ahold Delhaize, Rewe and Tesco, are also piloting the technology in existing outlets.

“In addition, start-ups have been opening concept stores to showcase their own checkout-free technology.

“To date, checkout-free stores have mainly been small in scale, with cart-based technology deployed in larger supermarket formats.”

Amazon unveiled its checkout-free Just Walk Out system in December 2016 and began selling the technology to other retailers in March 2020, while UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s implemented the solution in one of its London stores in December 2021.

Ahold Delhaize began piloting a cashierless system in the USA in November 2019, Rewe opened a checkout-free supermarket in Germany in May 2021 and Tesco opened its first store without checkouts in London in October 2021.

RBR: More than 12,000 checkout-free contactless stores to be in operation by 2027 was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Nearly one in five Chinese consumers have downloaded the country’s official digital yuan wallet app (19%), with the majority of them mainly using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for ecommerce purchases (72%) and payments for public services such as transportation (67%), a survey by US research firm Morning Consult has found.

The survey also reveals that although 83% of respondents have a favourable opinion of existing digital payment apps WeChat Pay and Alipay, some 60% also now regard the digital yuan favourably.

More than half said that the main advantages of the digital currency are that it makes it easier to investigate corruption and money laundering (59%), it supports better money supply management (57%), it facilitates sending and receiving money within China (57%) and it replaces cash (50%).

When those who have not used the digital yuan were asked why they have not done so, 27% said that they “don’t need it right now”, 26% that they “don’t know how to use it”, 17% that they prefer other digital payments, 15% that they prefer cash, 9% that the digital yuan is not yet available where they live, and 4% that their mobile phone doesn’t support the digital currency.

“For those who don’t use [the digital yuan], most say they don’t need it, in part due to popular alternatives like WeChat Pay and Alipay, but a sizeable portion could be induced to use the digital wallet with education or assistance in getting access,” the researchers say.

Merchant incentives

“Pilot schemes offering merchants 0% fees on e-CNY transactions could continue for some time in order to encourage uptake, and the e-CNY will reportedly continue to offer lower fees than Alipay and WeChat Pay in the long run.

“This will appeal to retailers that have or aspire to have a presence in China — especially in the ecommerce space — but will increasingly undercut existing private sector payment providers, both foreign and Chinese.” 

“Most consumers aren’t thinking of the e-CNY’s potential benefits in geopolitical terms,” the researchers add.

“Despite internationalisation of the renminbi as a stated long-term objective of the project, the public ranked ‘helping China be a leader globally’ dead last among possible ‘major advantages’ of the e-CNY. ‘Greater independence from the US dollar’ was also near the bottom.”

China launched a pilot version of the digital yuan wallet app for both Android and iOS devices across 10 cities in January and issued an updated iOS version in March.

One in five Chinese consumers have now downloaded China’s digital currency app was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

The number of digital loyalty programme memberships that offer consumers rewards and incentives such as discounts, vouchers, cashback and reward points will grow by 33% from 24bn worldwide in 2022 to more than 32bn in 2026, according to a forecast by Juniper Research.

The research also predicts that the value of consumer credit card rewards globally will increase by 15% —  from US$92bn in 2022 to US$108bn in 2026 — but that the traditional loyalty cards market “will stagnate, with growth in the number of cards in circulation of only 5% between 2022 and 2026, reaching 7.6bn in 2026 globally”.

“The research identified digital loyalty programmes as critical to customer retention within highly competitive verticals, in particular in the grocery and QSR (quick service restaurants) areas,” the researchers say.

“To date, innovation has been constrained to the largest vendors in these verticals. However, the proliferation of digital loyalty vendors means that smaller businesses now have access to digital loyalty platforms.

“To take advantage of this opportunity to improve customer loyalty, the report recommends that digital loyalty vendors must provide the ability to customise and personalise all aspects of the communication and checkout processes.”

Digital loyalty programmes to see 33% growth as loyalty card market stagnates was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Samsung Galaxy users in the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK can now store their digital payment, loyalty and membership cards as well as digital keys, boarding passes and Covid-19 vaccination certificates on their smartphone using the Samsung Wallet app.

The South Korea-based tech giant has launched the new app by integrating Samsung Pay with the Samsung Pass and SmartThings platforms, and says that users will be able to add digital identity documents such as their driving licence or student ID “later this year”.

Users with Galaxy devices running Android 9 Pie or later can migrate to Samsung Wallet directly from Samsung Pay or Samsung Pass or by visiting the online Galaxy Store.

“Samsung Wallet gives users a refined interface and one-swipe access to their payment cards, loyalty and membership cards and more,^” Samsung says.

“Samsung Wallet also incorporates the functionality of Samsung Pass, which securely stores passwords and enables users to quickly and easily log into apps and services.

“It even helps users quickly monitor their digital asset portfolio by checking the value of their cryptocurrencies across various exchanges in one place.

“Other important documentation, such as proof of Covid-19 vaccination status, can also be securely stored in Samsung Wallet.”

Users can also “easily add digital home keys” and digital car keys for selected BMW, Genesis and Hyundai models “with additional automaker partnerships expected”.

At launch, Samsung Wallet will support digital boarding passes for services operated by Korean Air.

“Samsung Wallet is protected by defence-grade security platform Samsung Knox,” Samsung adds.

“Protections include fingerprint recognition and encryption which help safeguard users’ sensitive data, so only the device owners can access their important information.

“Along with Samsung Knox, certain key sensitive items in Samsung Wallet are stored in an isolated environment — the embedded Secure Element — which also helps protect against digital and physical hacking.”

Samsung launched its original Samsung Wallet service in 2013 before discontinuing it in June 2015 and then rolling out Samsung Pay later that year.

Samsung combines payments, digital keys, boarding passes and IDs in single mobile wallet app was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

The total number of contactless payment cards and modules shipped globally exceeded 2bn for the first time and accounted for more than three-quarters of the overall total of 2.63bn smart payment card and module shipments during 2021 (76%), according to figures released by the Smart Payment Association (SPA).

SPA reports that an additional 269m contactless cards and modules were shipped in 2021 compared with the previous year and that the percentage of cards with contactless functionality has risen from 69% in 2020 and 59% in 2019 to reach 76% for 2021.

The figures also show that the number of eco-friendly cards shipped to issuers worldwide rose from 31m in 2020 to nearly 100m in 2021.

“All regions posted growth versus the previous year, except the USA due to an anticipated ‘down-cycle’ and China. Europe was the fastest growing market and CISMEA continued to grow versus the 2019 record year,” the SPA says.

“These numbers confirm that the demand for secure payment cards continues to grow: 2021 SPA shipments start to recover versus 2020, posting +5% growth.

“The SPA believes the figures would have been higher had it not been for the chip shortage affecting the industry. SPA members suffered from chip allocations preventing them from fully serving the demand of their customers.”

“Last year was again a challenge on its own. The ongoing pandemic continued with strong and unpredictable global supply disruptions. Our entire industry suffered from local lockdowns affecting the production and supply of chips, semi-finished goods and cards, as well as from associated air freight issues due to lower capacities,” SPA president Andreas Strobel adds.

“On the other hand, our sector itself shows strong resilience, in particular due to a further growing contactless card demand, driven by increased consumer needs towards a preference of easy, contact-free and secure payment methods.

“Overall, the figures indicate an upward trend in shipments, attributed to this higher consumer request for contactless cards.”

Global shipments of contactless payment cards top 2bn in 2021 was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Transport for NSW is to officially launch the digital version of its Opal transit card that enables passengers to pay fares by tapping a reader with their NFC smartphone or smartwatch and to begin trialling a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that will let users plan, book and pay for multimodal journeys across both private and public transport services.

The app — known as Opal+ — will also enable passengers to purchase a prepaid weekly or weekend subscription for unlimited travel on public transport, ‘journey bundles’ of between two and six metro, train, tram and bus tickets, and add-ons to pay for privately operated taxi, rideshare, e-bike and parking services.

Users will also be able to use an account-based feature called Opal Connect “to tap on and off with their phone or smartwatch using their digital wallet which is linked to their Transport Connect account”, Transport for NSW executive director Kurt Brissett says in a LinkedIn post.

In addition, Opal+ subscribers will receive regular discounts and special offers at selected food outlets and attractions and on airline tickets.

Transport for NSW is rolling out the digital transit card and piloting the MaaS app as part of a AUS$568m (US$396m) upgrade to the Opal system over the next two years that will also include the implementation of new Opal readers across the transport network.

Intelligent transport

“This app will revolutionise the way we travel in NSW because it factors in first and last mile journeys, making it simpler and easier to leave the car at home and get from door to door,” NSW’s Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes says.

“Opal+ will free up people to choose their own adventure when it comes to transport, laying the groundwork for an even more intelligent transport system that puts the citizen at its heart.”

A short video explains how the Opal+ app will work for journey planning and ticketing.

Transport for NSW plans to trial the app for 12 months with 10,000 users in the Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Illawarra, Central Coast and Hunter regions.

In addition to public transport subscriptions and ticket bundles, participants in the trial will be able to purchase add-ons for Silver Top taxis, Ola Rideshare, Beam e-bikes and Secure Parking, with support for Lime e-bikes  and Neuron e-scooters “coming soon”.

The pilot Opal+ app will initially be available for iPhone users and an Android version is due to follow later this year.

Transport for NSW began trialling the digital Opal card in December 2020 and announced plans to pilot the MaaS app in December 2021.

Transport for NSW to pilot Opal+ Mobility-as-a-Service app was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Police officers in the city of Alpharetta in Georgia have become the first in the USA to be issued with contactless smart cards that let members of the public access an officer’s ID badge information and contact details by simply tapping the card with their NFC smartphone.

The contactless cards also enable those who have been the victim of a crime to receive a case number and information about the case via NFC. In addition, members of the public will be able to complete a survey to provide feedback on any interactions with an individual police officer.

A QR code is also included on the smart cards for those who do not have an NFC phone.

“There is a concept called police legitimacy that essentially states that we can be effective in policing a community only so long as the public allows us to do so, and they will only allow us to police the community if they see us as legitimate,” Mike Stewart of the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety says.

“Legitimacy comes from transparency, and we see the smart cards as a way to be even more transparent while also making it easier for the public to interact with us. If you have a good interaction, we want to know. If you have a not so good interaction, we want to know, and in either case, we want it to be easy for you to tell us because that makes it easier for us to identify issues we need to address.”

The card will also make it easier for the department to monitor officers’ performance, customise training and “improve performance and interactions across the agency”.

US police officers pilot contactless badges that citizens can tap with their NFC phone was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in the San Francisco Bay Area in the USA are rewarding passengers for opting for the digital version of the Clipper stored-value transit card “because global supply chain issues have depleted the inventory of plastic cards”, the MTC says.

The two transit agencies are waiving the standard US$3 fee charged to users when buying a new card as long as they opt for the digital version that enables them to pay their bus, rail, ferry and train fares with a card stored in Apple Pay or Google Pay.

BART has also based an outreach team at San Francisco International Airport to encourage visitors to the city to download a digital Clipper card onto their Android or iOS device, according to a report by local media outlet SFGate.

“In early May, Clipper Card manufacturer Paragon ID alerted MTC and BART that the shipment of new plastic cards would be delayed,” SFGate says.

“Thierry Burgess, CEO of Paragon ID US, said that plastic wasn’t the issue. Rather, it’s the semiconductors used inside the card. He told SFGate that the supply issue is due to a lack of wafer fabrication factories, which produce the chips, and require billions of dollars to open.”

“I’ve been in the business for 20 years and there is a cycle. But I’ve never seen something as severe as right now,” Burgess told SFGate.

“I’m surprised at the extent of the downturn. I’ve gone through similar cycles in the past, it’s almost predictable, but it’s now impacted by Covid and climate change.”

Passengers who purchase a physical Clipper card will continue to be charged the US$3 new card fee.

The digital Clipper card rolled out for Apple users in April 2021 and for Android users in May 2021.

US research firm Nilson Report predicted earlier this month that disruptions in the global supply chain for contactless chips will result in the overall cost to card issuers for finished first-use plastic cards rising by between 5% and 20% during 2021.

Clipper promotes digital transit card adoption as plastic card costs rise was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

More than nine in ten card present transactions conducted globally (90.44%) were made using EMV chip-enabled payment cards between January and December 2021, up from 88.55% in 2020, according to standards body EMVCo.

The total number of EMV payment cards in circulation also rose by 1.1bn, from 10.816bn as of December 2020 to reach just under 12bn at the end of 2021, accounting for 68% of all cards issued worldwide, with the average global adoption rate also increasing from 66.4% in 2020 to 68.16% in 2021.

According to EMVCo’s data, the percentage of card present transactions made using EMV chip-enabled cards was highest in Europe Zone 1 — broadly western Europe — at 99.52%, followed by Africa and the Middle East (98.99%), Europe Zone 2 (97.61%), Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean (96.89%), Asia Pacific (82.71%) and the USA (81.74%).

The USA saw the highest increase in EMV card present transactions, rising by nine percentage points from 72.83% in 2020 to reach this year’s figure of 81.74%.

EMV chip card adoption rates exceeded 90% in Africa and the Middle East (91.69%), Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean (90.56%) and Europe Zone 1 (90.46%).

Adoption rates in other regions ranged from 86.29% in Europe Zone 2 to 62.64% in Asia Pacific and 62.86% in the USA.

Digital shift

“With 12bn EMV cards deployed worldwide, and issuance and adoption seeing sustained increases globally, EMV chip provides a trusted foundation that is supporting the ongoing shift away from cash and towards digital payments,” EMVCo executive committee chair Robin Trickel says.

“Looking ahead, EMVCo continues to advance the EMV Chip Specifications in collaboration with merchants, issuers, acquirers, payment networks, financial institutions, manufacturers, technology providers and testing laboratories across the globe.

“Key initiatives include enhancements to the EMV Contact Chip Specification to support elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for robust security, as well as efforts to enable and support emerging use cases and new ways to pay.”

EMVCo released a draft contactless kernel specification for payment acceptance devices in May and revealed plans to extend its specifications and testing programmes in February.

More than 90% of card present payments worldwide were made using EMV chip cards in 2021 was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has launched two new NFC Forum reader devices that enable developers and manufacturers to support NFC initiator, target, reader and card emulation modes and make it easier to ensure products conform to EMVCo 3.1a and NFC Forum CR13 specifications.

The ST25R3916B-AQWT and the ST25R3917B-AQWT “combine high output power and energy efficiency at a competitive price” and can be used across a wide range of industrial and consumer applications, including contactless payment, device pairing, wireless charging and brand protection.

“The ST25R3916B and the ST25R3917B deliver up to 1.6W RF output power and can drive antennas directly at high efficiency. Dynamic power-output (DPO) adjustment enables designers to keep the radiated power between the upper and lower limits defined by EMVCo and the NFC Forum specifications,” ST says.

Full details are in the press release below:

ST eases payment and consumer application design with new NFC readers was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana in the USA and the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in South Korea have developed edible tags containing a 2D barcode that can be placed in bottles of whisky or pharmaceuticals, enabling consumers to authenticate a product by scanning the code with their smartphone.

The tags are made of a biopolymer manufactured from processed fluorescent silk cocoons from specialised silkworms that can be formed into patterns encoding information, and offer “an additional authentication mechanism for marked safety seals on bottles or pills and could help by being placed in high-dollar bottles of alcohol or on expensive medications individually,” the researchers say.

The team, led by associate professor Young Kim, tested the tags in different brands of whisky and were able to continue reading the tags and codes with a smartphone app over a 10-month period.

How it works

“The code on the fluorescent silk tag is the equivalent of a barcode or QR code and is not visible to the naked eye,” the researchers explain.

“The tags are also edible, causing no issues if a person swallowed it while downing a shot of whisky. The tags have not affected the taste of the whisky.”

“Counterfeit items, such as medicines and alcohol, are big issues around the world,” Young Kim adds.

“Online pharmacies sell controlled substances to teens. People can buy counterfeit opioids easily. This work is extremely important for patients and buyers in addressing this issue.

“If you have this technology on or in your medicines, you can use your smartphone to authenticate. We want to empower patients to be aware of this issue. We want to work with pharmaceutical companies and alcohol producers to help them address this issue.” 

A short video shows how the tags work:

Researchers develop edible tags for authenticating whisky and pharmaceuticals was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Drivers in the US can now find, reserve and pay for parking at some 75,000 off-street locations across the country from their vehicle simply by saying “Alexa, find parking nearby” or by instructing the virtual assistant to find parking at a specific destination.

Alexa will then provide information about parking locations and confirm parking duration and total cost prior to booking. Drivers can also ask for verbal confirmation of their reservation, make payments via Amazon Pay and request a digital receipt.

The hands-free service is being rolled out via an Amazon Alexa Skill launched by connected vehicle services provider Parkopedia that also enables users to book parking in advance from home or while en route to their destination using any Alexa-enabled device.

The Skill is available on any Alexa-enabled device including vehicles with integrated Alexa or Alexa-supported auto accessories, on smartphones via the Alexa mobile app, with Echo Buds and from home using a standard Alexa device.

“Using Amazon’s cloud-based voice service, drivers will have access to the Parkopedia database of almost 75,000 off-street parking locations across America, including more than 6,000 reservable locations — allowing drivers to find the nearest parking spot either to a given address, their current location, or at their final destination,” Parkopedia explains.

“When a driver needs help finding the most convenient parking space, they can just say ‘Alexa, find parking nearby’ or use locations, such as ‘Alexa, find parking in Seattle’, and Alexa will default to the Parkopedia Skill, providing users with information such as accurate parking location, pricing and facility opening hours, as well as confirming the required parking duration and total cost prior to booking.

“If a location has multiple parking options, drivers can ask Alexa to skip suggestions until they find a parking spot which best suits their needs.

“Drivers are also able to ask the Parkopedia Skill to verbally confirm reservations, make payments via Amazon Pay, or request for an e-receipt to be sent.”

Parkopedia plans to expand the service to include other services and features such as on-street parking, finding parking at known locations such as work or home, and advising drivers of the distance from the suggested parking space to their final destination “in the near future”. 

In-car contactless parking payments roll out in the US was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.

Nearly two-thirds of consumers in Ireland now make contactless payments with a mobile phone, smartwatch or other device (65%) at least once a month compared with an average of just over half of consumers in other countries (55%), a survey has found.

The survey — which compared attitudes to and behaviour around different on- and offline payment methods in 14 countries — also found that 63% of Irish consumers prefer to make cashless in-store payments compared with an average of 54% in the other countries.

Irish respondents were also more likely to say that they appreciate the security that electronic payments offer (45%) than in other countries (37%).

“While recent data has demonstrated that accelerated payment habits during the Covid-19 pandemic have stuck, we now see how Ireland has progressed to being a leading adopter of cash alternatives compared to other counties,” the researchers say.

“Irish consumers are more inclined to pay by card, virtual wallet or online across a range of situations including grocery shopping, eating out, at the fuel pump, at public institutions and for entertainment.

“The availability of card and contactless facilities also impact consumer perception of businesses with people living in Ireland perceiving businesses with card and/or online payment options as being more modern (82%) and customer-centric (74%).

“Only 3% of people surveyed do not use card or digital payments in any situation. This is half the average across the other countries surveyed (6%).”

The survey was conducted by payment services provider BOIPA with more than 8,000 consumers in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the UK in March 2022.

Ireland tops survey of contactless and cashless payments usage across 14 markets was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.