Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Telecommunications operators may monopolize NFC ecosystem

Monday, October 20, 2008

A Dutch technology company theorizes that telecommunications companies could become the largest stakeholders in the NFC ecosystem if the SIM card is used to house payment information. Not only that, Rathenau Institute believes that”a conflict of interests” could exist between the involved stakeholders.

The stakeholder who manages the Secure Element, which houses the payment information on the SIM, essentially manages the access to the user. In this context, telecommunications operators will probably charge high fees to the other stakeholders for using their SIM, potentially causing problems.

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The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of NFC technology.

“One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy,” said Transportation Council Chairman Craig Roberts. “This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy.”

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MasterCard introduced a road map focused on advancing the U.S. electronic payments system. The map, which includes the path for migration from magnetic stripe to EMV technology available on chip cards, will serve as the foundation for the next generation of products and services.

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Mobile payment solution provider I Love Velvet announced that it has reached the second level of EMV certification (EMV2) which authorizes PIN and integrated chip payments from debit, credit and smart cards around the world.

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Oracle has released a new version of Oracle Retail Point-of-Service that aims to increase security, operational efficiency and functionality in part by integrating biometrics.

Oracle partnered with DigitalPersonal to add integrated biometrics to the POS package. Users of the software will login using their fingerprint, which will replace the need for PINs or passwords. This feature intends to reduce fraud by eliminating the possibility of unauthorized employees using a manager ID or swipe card to access the POS and approve overrides.

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The European Payments Council (EPC) has published the second edition of its “White Paper on Mobile Payments.”

According to EPC, the white paper focuses on the usage of the mobile payments in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and explores how m-payment services can be delivered through cooperation between service providers in the payment industry and players within the mobile ecosystem.

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The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has appointed a consortium to develop and deploy an interoperable NFC infrastructure and mobile payments system throughout Singapore.

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