Ericsson Labs has upgraded Tag Tool, the set of developer tools for working with NFC and RFID tags first launched in November 2009.

"The idea behind Tag Tool is very simple," Ericsson Labs explains. "You create 'virtual tags', meaning the information that is going to be stored on the tags, online using your computer. It is much simpler to input information into our system this way than using for instance a mobile phone. Your tags are stored in our database and you can access them from your NFC device, using our Tag Tool MIDlet application, or from your computer. The MIDlet downloads all the 'virtual tags' that you have created on the portal and is capable of writing them to your physical tags."

The new features added to the service include:

• New tag types: Generic Control records and External records can now be created
• QR barcode generator
• Better positioning of tags and map view
• Updates to the management interface with sorting and filtering functionality

"We will continue to improve Tag Tool and appreciate any feedback on the forum on features you are interested in," says Ericsson Labs.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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• Ericsson Labs launches NFC and RFID tag developer tools
• NFC Forum spec adds digital signatures to prevent tag tampering
• Orange launches open source NFC application developer toolkit

Card issuer Barclaycard and mobile network operator Orange are to launch a commercial NFC service in the UK before the end of 2010, a senior Barclaycard executive has revealed.

Sarah Mansfield, Barclaycard's head of innovation marketing, revealed the plan in a presentation at a mobile marketing event organized by the Institute of Sales Promotion and Mobile Interactive Group, according to a report in Wireless Federation:

According to Sarah, at the back end of 2010, the company will have a commercial launch with Orange for mobile payments and the consumers will be able to buy an NFC-enabled phone and make payments with it.

SMS alerts and both iPhone and Android augmented reality applications are also to be introduced that enable customers to find local stores equipped with NFC and contactless card accepting terminals, the article continues.

In January, the two companies jointly launched the Orange Credit Card, a contactless card that the pair described as "the latest step in Orange and Barclaycard's long-term strategic partnership aimed at introducing a broad range of mobile, financial and payment services to evolve the way consumers make payment transactions in the UK." The two have been working together on the development of mobile contactless services since March 2009.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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• Orange and Barclaycard move towards NFC payments launch
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BANGALORE TRIAL: Customers 'expect to do more of everything through their mobile phone, including payments,' says Citi.

Citi's six month near field communication trial in Bangalore, India has provided "insights which will prove crucial to getting the customer experience right as we, together with the industry, bring next-generation mobile financial services to market,' says Citi Growth Ventures' Satish Menon.

Conceived from the beginning with the aim of developing a business case for NFC that Citi could offer to its US customers, the Citi Tap and Pay pilot enabled Citibank MasterCard credit cardholders to use NFC phones to make payments at the point-of-sale and to receive promotional offers and discounts at a wide range of department stores, food courts, restaurants and fast food outlets, book stores and multiplexes.

To take part in the trial, Citi customers first needed to purchase a Nokia 6212 Classic phone, pre-loaded with the Citi Tap and Pay application and enabled with MasterCard's PayPass contactless payments technology. The Nokia phones were made available for sale from a number of Nokia stores in the city and, as an incentive, Citi offered cardholders a rebate if they purchased a phone and then used it to make purchases. Using the phone to make twelve transactions generated the maximum $110 rebate, the full cost of the phone at retail, at which point the customer had effectively received their phone free of charge.

More than 3,000 signed up to take part in the pilot and, during the 26 weeks of the trial, they could use their phones to make purchases at 250 merchant locations. In total, over the course of the pilot, nearly 50,000 purchases were made.

A white paper that contains a detailed analysis of the trial has been produced by consultants Edgar, Dunn & Company and is available to download free of charge from their website.

'Citi Tap and Pay mobile NFC proximity payments pilot — Bengaluru, Results & Findings' explains that positive customer feedback was received on all the key fundamentals, such as customer interest, usage and satisfaction. In fact, the consultants say, the service generated very high growth rates in overall transaction activity and saw total transaction values during the trial of more than 26m rupees (US$570,000).

Features such as secure and hassle-free activation and enhancement in transaction speed scored positively with customers while merchants liked the service's ability to speed-up payments at the point-of-sale.

And on-going consumer research conducted by The Nielsen Company during the pilot scored the project as 'world class' in terms of overall customer satisfaction.

Key findings from the pilot, highlighted in the white paper, include:

Demand outstripped supply. Customers had to put down their names on a growing waiting list to participate in the project due to greater than expected interest. 3,948 requests for phones were received from customers and 3,141 NFC phones were sold.

Customers actively paid with the phone. Although overall credit card usage in India is low compared to Western Europe or North America, customers showed positive interest in the new technology and a total of 43,527 Tap and Pay transactions took place during the pilot.

The service generated growth in payment volumes. Comparing 2009 monthly average data (pre- and post-sign up for adopters) and comparing a control group of (a) non-adopters with (b) self adopters (who joined without being solicited) and (c) solicited adopters, there was a marked increase in payment activity.

• Growth in total number of purchases — Non-adopters: 7.1% increase (monthly average 2009); Self-adopters: 329.1% increase (pre- vs. post-sign up periods); Solicited adopters: 96.3% increase (pre- vs. post-sign up periods).
• Growth in total purchase value (card spends) — Non-adopters: 11.9% increase; Self-adopters: 231.6% increase; Solicited adopters: 55.5% increase.
• Increase in number of merchants where payments were made: Non-adopters: 7.2% increase; Self-adopters: 243.9% increase; Solicited adopters: 68.4% increase.
• Increase in merchant categories (variety) where payments were made: Non-adopters: 6.3% increase; Self-adopters: 216.5% increase; Solicited-adopters: 56.7% increase.

Project partners also benefited directly from the service. Nokia estimated that just over a fifth of handset sales were made to new customers.

There were several reasons why customers signed up for the service. Customers surveyed indicated that they perceived the new service offered value for money, enhanced convenience, enhanced security and the 'cool factor' while the collective brand power from the involvement of some of the best known brands in India was also important.

Customer experience with the service was positive. On the whole customers provided strong positive feedback which was primarily due to their satisfaction with:

• Quick and painless service activation at the Nokia store
• Secure set-up
• The service as an ideal cash substitute
• Fast payment

But there were challenges as well. Eligible customers who did not participate attributed their reasons for not doing so to limitations in:

• Communications and awareness of the offer
• Timing of marketing calls
• Use of local languages
• General credit card usage in India
• Handset on offer (Nokia 6212)

Customers identified some 'pain points'. These diluted the experience and need to be resolved in the future. Customers clearly indicated:

• They do not want to carry two phones, especially when they already own more advanced handsets
• They found the Nokia 6212 handset well below their expectations
• Their concern that the service will be discontinued due to the limited timeframe of the pilot project (leading them to avoid developing lasting familiarity)
• Merchant coverage should be expanded
• Merchant staff should be better trained to assist customers

Merchants on the whole provided positive feedback. Merchant feedback was obtained through selected interviews and merchants noted that the Tap and Pay process attracted attention and expressed the opinion that contactless technology and mobile phones can together change the way customers make payments.

Merchants also indicated that speed of payment was a key benefit to them as the payment process was significantly faster than that for credit cards. There were indications that some customers wanted to split transactions in order to achieve the cash back incentives as quickly as possible. This indicated that incentive mechanisms should be based on a set of key
parameters and not on transaction numbers alone.

"The Citi Tap and Pay pilot has more than validated expectations, with a clear consumer demand emerging for contactless mobile payments and services during the pilot," says Satish Menon, executive vice president of Citi Growth Ventures, the Citi division which conceived the pilot. "This is an extremely strong endorsement and validates our belief that mobile payments have the potential to transform the way our highly mobile, international and increasingly urban customers make everyday payments. We are also happy that this pilot provides insights which will prove crucial to getting the customer experience right as we, together with the industry, bring next-generation mobile financial services to market."

"The mobile phone is without doubt the most successful consumer product ever and our customers' response to this pilot service demonstrates that they expect to do more of everything through their mobile phone, including payments," added Vijay Ramchandran, chief marketing officer of Citi South Asia. "We are especially pleased that Citi Tap and Pay marks a key global milestone in bringing to reality the convergence of the wallet with the mobile phone. We will continue to build on Citi's legacy of innovation to add momentum for quicker and wider adoption of this smart, everyday, everywhere technology."

"This pilot has shown, once and for all, that suitably conceived and efficiently implemented NFC programmes can unlock hidden demand for growth in electronic payments," explains Samee Zafar, head of Edgar Dunn & Company's Advanced Payments Consulting practice. "NFC technology can help achieve a long-standing aspiration that has eluded everyone so far — migrating cash transactions to electronic means."

What's next for Citi? The bank is already in talks with potential partners in India and Asia, Ramchandran has told an Indian financial publication. "We are in talks with three to four banks, three telecom operators, two to three technology providers and two phone makers," LiveMint reports.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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• Citi launches NFC trial in India
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• MasterCard, Citi and Bell report on Canadian NFC payments trial

DeviceFidelity has signed up the first licensees for its microSD format NFC solution, UK mobile payments provider Monitise and US mobile solutions provider Ecrio, and has announced version 2 of its In2Pay product, adding support for EMV compliant payment applications and for Mifare ticketing applications.

In2Pay includes both an antenna and an industry standard dual interface contactless smart card chip that can be loaded with a certified payment or ticketing application, using standard bank card personalisation and card issuing systems, enabling banks and other service providers to offer NFC services to their customers with minimum amendments to their existing infrastructure.

Once an In2Pay microSD card has been personalised with a cardholder's details it can be inserted into one end of a specially designed plastic 'card' which can then be distributed to customers using a standard bank card mailer.

When the customer receives his new device in the mail, he simply detaches the card from the carrier, removes the NFC microSD device from the card and inserts it into his mobile phone. Software then installs and a prompt appears on the phone's screen instructing the customer to enter a password on the mobile phone's keypad. Once that has been done, the customer's phone is NFC-enabled for whatever applications the bank has chosen to install on the In2Pay device.

First announced in November 2009, last month Visa revealed it would be conducting field tests of In2Pay from the second quarter of 2010.

"The In2Pay microSD v2 is Trusted Service Manager (TSM) ready, allowing TSM client software on mobile devices to interact with the In2Pay Secure Element through a new Java based Application Programming Interface (In2Pay API)," DeviceFidelity explains. "The patented TSM ready architecture of the In2Pay v2 allows TSM providers to support the In2Pay solution without modifying the TSM server designed for embedded or SIM based NFC solutions."

"We’ve seen an amazing response to our In2Pay solution from the NFC ecosystem players," says Deepak Jain, president and CEO of DeviceFidelity. "By adding new features and opening the platform to developers, we are delivering on our promise of taking mobile contactless to a larger number of devices and consumers around the globe."

“Monitise is delighted to add the payments capabilities delivered via the DeviceFidelity technologies to be made available to our growing list of Mobile Money financial institutions, to move us toward true, mobile-initiated payments,” adds Lisa Stanton, head of global alliances for Monitise.

"We are excited to be one the first companies to license the In2Pay API," comments Nagesh Challa, CEO of Ecrio, whose investors include Visa and NTT Docomo. "We can now effectively make use of a large number of contactless enabled mobile devices for our applications."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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MICROSD NFC: Tyfone's SideTap will ship in the second half of 2010

MicroSD-based NFC solution provider Tyfone says it has now successfully completed the last tests needed before being able to put its SideTap NFC technology into production and the first units will be commercially available in volume from the second half of 2010.

SideTap MicroSD cards contains a built-in antenna and an onboard controller that manages over-the-air (OTA) capabilities, enabling additional payments, ticketing and other services to be added to the card in the field.

All the NFC functionality in the SideTap cards fits into just one small corner of the microSD card, enabling the device to include standard memory expansion functionality as well as NFC. In fact, the antenna itself takes up less than 1% of the surface area of the microSD card, Dr Siva Narendra, Tyfone's chief technology officer, told NFC World.

The first SideTap cards to go into production will have a memory capacity of 1GB and will be available to order in "100,000's this year, with a target volume in the millions next year," says Narendra.

An entry level version, the SideTap lite, will also be available. This will come without additional memory capacity or over-the-air provisioning capability and is designed for single issuer applications, such as a straight replacement for a bank card or transit card. Larger memory capacity cards are also expected to become available from 2011.

While the smaller size of the antenna means SideTap has a shorter read distance of just one to three centimetres, it has a significant advantage in terms of transaction speed. SideTap is able to process transactions at exactly the same speed as if they were running on a plastic card, Narendra told NFC World. For most applications, that means a transaction speed of under 400ms and, for Mifare ticketing applications, transactions take only 100ms.

In terms of pricing, the bulk of the expense lies in the cost of the memory, says Narendra, and the total cost of a SideTap card is expected to be similar to the combined cost of a standard microSD card of the chosen memory capacity plus the cost of a contactless bank card.

Since mid-2009, Tyfone's u4ia platform has been powering OnPoint Community Credit Union's mobile banking service and, in September 2009, Tyfone was granted a key patent covering electronic transaction cards.

INSIDE SIDETAP: Antenna, controllers and memory in a microSD package

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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SPECS: New document focuses on management of multiple contactless apps in a single secure element

SIM and smart card standards body GlobalPlatform has released a new technical document which focuses on the management of multiple contactless applications within a single secure element such as an NFC SIM, a microSD card, an embedded secure element or a contactless card/sticker.

The Contactless Services document, Amendment C to GlobalPlatform's Card Specification v2.2, addresses how consumers will manage their mobile contactless services and how they will select which application they would like to activate. The document outlines how the mobile phone interface can be tailored by the card issuer to meet its needs and those of service providers, including the storage of commercial logos to enable simple brand recognition on a mobile phone screen.

"This is an important enhancement for securely and effectively delivering NFC services to users," says Giesecke & Devrient's Karl Eglof Hartel, chair of the GlobalPlatform Card Committee. "It successfully overcomes some of the barriers that were restricting NFC technology realising its full potential."

"From a commercial perspective, for example, it is vital to have the technical capability to display logos to support brand recognition and awareness, while also guaranteeing the highest level of security and offering service providers a clear separation of domains for application management," he added.

"As a result of the card committee’s efforts, Amendment C to GlobalPlatform Card Specification v2.2 delivers to the NFC marketplace a neutral platform that enables service providers to directly interact with an end-user," Hartel explains. "In addition to creating new business opportunities at all levels across the NFC ecosystem, GlobalPlatform believes that the technology will create a fundamental transition in consumer habits. For example, today's process of choosing a payment card from a wallet will be replaced by the selection of a contactless service via the screen of a mobile handset."

Readers can download the full Contactless Services technical document from GlobalPlatform's website.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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WIMA CONFERENCE: A 'must attend' event in the NFC industry's calendar

The organisers of the annual Wima NFC event, to be held in Monaco from 20-22 April 2010, have now finalised the programme for this year's conferences and workshops.

The event begins on Tuesday 20 April with the Second International Workshop on Near Field Communication, organised by IEEE Austria. The full day event includes tracks focusing on NFC applications and services and on hardware and security issues and features speakers presenting on topics such as the potential of NFC in the automotive sector and in the Internet of Things.

The main conference opens on 21 April with keynote presentations from Brigitte Bourgoin, chairman of the Association Française du Sans Contact Mobile (AFSCM), from Dominique Descolas of Veolia Transport and Jérôme Nadel from Sagem Wireless. The event then splits into two tracks, with one focusing on technical topics and the second focusing on business issues.

The second day of the main conference begins with a keynote panel featuring Christian Estrosi, the French Minister for Industry and the Mayor of Nice, and Suvi Lindén, Finland's Minister of Communications. The morning continues with presentations from the NFC Forum and the conference concludes in the afternoon with a 'hands on' technical workshop and further presentations in the business track.

The NFC Forum Global Competition Awards ceremony takes place on the evening of 21 April and the exhibition area is open on both 21 and 22 April.

Conference passes cost between €300 and €739, depending on the options chosen, while entry to the exhibition costs €69.

Readers can register online for the conference, workshop or exhibition on Wima's website.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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China Mobile has agreed to pay $5.8 billion for a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank), making the mobile network operator the second largest shareholder in the bank.

Shareholders in China Mobile have not greeted the idea with much enthusiasm, however, and since it first revealed its interest in the bank, the operator's shares have fallen by 3%, according to Reuters.

"The co-operation between China Mobile and SPD Bank signifies the aspiration of a closer integration between mobile communication and e-commerce applications," Wang Jianzhou, chairman of China Mobile, revealed in a statement.

The cooperation is expected to include the joint development of mobile phone-based payments, bank card and funds transfer services, the statement continued.

The stake gives China Mobile's new RF SIM-based mobile payments service a foothold in the banking services sector. It follows SK Telekom's purchase of a 49% stake in Korean card issuer Hana Card and China Unicom's move to launch a commercial NFC service in Shanghai — and is part of a trend that we expect to become widespread as banks and mobile network operators move towards the commercial deployment of NFC and mobile contactless payments services.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Nineteen additional companies from fourteen countries have signed up to become members of the NFC Forum.

The list of new members is headed by fabless semiconductor supplier Marvell Technology and Canadian mobile network operator Rogers Communications, both of which have joined the forum as Principal Members.

New Associate Members include Blackboard, Consult Hyperion, Deutsche Bahn Mobility Logistics, Micropross, Murata Manufacturing, SGS, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), China's Telecommunication Metrology Center (TMC) and Zapa Technology.

In the Implementer membership category the new additions are Adamsoft, Cassis International, Upek and Yulong.

Four organisations have also joined the NFC Forum in the non-profit membership category. They are Center for Internet Excellence, National Retail Federation — Association for Retail Technology Standards (NRF-ARTS), NetPort.Karlshamn and Spain's Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca — Club de Innovacion.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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The 3rd Mobile Commerce Summit Asia is to take place at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila Hotel on 23 to 26 March 2010.

The event examines the mobile commerce market across Asia and features NFC within the context of the overall Asian mobile payments and m-commerce marketplace. The conference includes a session dedicated to NFC on the afternoon of the first day as well as a post-conference workshop examining the value proposition of mobile contactless services.

Delegates can also take part in a Mobile Commerce Study Tour, conducted by the Rural Banker’s Association of the Philippines, which follows on from the post-conference workshop and enables participants to get first hand experience of the Philippines' G-Cash mobile payments system in action.

Full details of the conference programme and information on how to attend the event is available on the Mobile Commerce Summit Asia website.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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