Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Melbourne NFC trial successful but next steps sketchy

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Despite very positive feedback from users and merchants following a three-month NFC mobile payments trial in Melbourne, Australia, the bank, mobile operator and credit card company involved in the pilot commented only that they would “continue to explore opportunities in this area in the next few years.”

Mobile phone provider Telstra, National Australia Bank and Visa conducted the contactless mobile phone payments trial at Melbourne’s Docklands where 90% of participants indicated they were very or extremely satisfied. Nearly all said they would use the technology in the future.

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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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Safety science company UL has acquired Melbourne, Australia-based Witham Laboratories, a global provider of payment software and hardware security reviews.

The acquisition expands UL’s reach into the payment card security assessment field and will enable it to provide security reviews of payment terminal, software and infrastructure.

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Globus Supermarkets in the Czech Republic has plans to equip all of its stores with contactless point-of-sale (POS) terminals, following a successful NFC payments trail conducted in conjunction with Telefónica O2, Komerční Banka, Citibank and Visa Europe.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest financial institution, has begun a commercial trial of SIM-based NFC mobile payments, reports NFC World.

The service, dubbed “Move and Pay,” is being tested among 600 Intesa Sanpaolo employees and customers in Milan and Turin, as well as by two academic institutions: The Polytechnic Institute of Milan and Turin ISMB.

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Absa, the largest consumer bank in South Africa, has announced an internal trial of NFC-enabled contactless payments, according to IT News Africa.

Scheduled to kick off later this month, the pilot will see 500 Absa employees equip their BlackBerry smart phones with NFC-enabled MicroSD cards that can be used to make contactless payments.

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