'TapThat' wins top honors at Isobar's NFC hackathon

Global communications agency Isobar has announced the winners of Create 32, Silicon Valley’s first hackathon exploring NFC technology on commercially available smart phones.

The event, held at APPNATION III from November 30 - December 1, 2011, attracted more than 40 developers and creators to develop new uses for NFC technology and produced seven working prototypes of applications in 32 hours. Each app was critiqued by a panel of NFC experts from Nokia, Google, eBay-PayPal et al. on its ability to impact a brand, business or consumer, its potential viability and its ability to change the way users experience the world. 

Proxama, ARM partners for m-payments

Proxama has announced a partnership with semiconductor supplier ARM Holdings to create secure payment mechanisms for mobile handsets.

The UK-based partners say they will combine ARM’s TrustZone technology with Proxama’s Mobile Wallet to develop a “highly secure” environment for NFC-enabled mobile contactless payments and mobile internet payments. 

Report: 46% of phones NFC-enabled by 2016

MarketResearch.com has released a new report predicting that approximately 46% of all mobile phones will be NFC-enabled by 2016 – up from just 5% in 2011.

According to the report, “Near Field Communication Market Global Forecast &Analysis (2011-2016) By Products,” the NFC applications market will grow “exponentially” alongside the handset market, with revenues jumping from $7,686 million in 2011 to $34,515 million by 2016 at an estimated CAGR of 35%. This growth will be driven by the mobile payments segment, followed by the ticketing and access control. 

Visa's mobile banking suite leaves room for NFC

Visa, in partnership with Monitise, has launched a suite of new mobile financial services on its revamped Debit Processing Service platform, enabling mobile phone users to check their account history and balances, transfer funds between accounts, and receive real-time transaction alerts.

Visa says it will soon expand the services to include NFC-enabled mobile payments, as well as bring in support for mobile offers, check deposits, and V.me – Visa’s digital wallet service. 

PIN hack revealed on Google Wallet

Web security provider Zvelo has uncovered a way crack the Google Wallet PIN security feature.

Using an app called “Wallet Cracker,” Zvelo was able to expose the PIN of a Google Wallet account without entering a single invalid attempt – five invalid attempts and the wallet locks out. 

Salt Lake gears up for NFC summer

Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is preparing to launch a massive NFC payments pilot in Salt Lake City this summer, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

The pilot, which will also be conducted in Austin, Tex., represents a major push by the U.S. payments industry to get customers and merchants to adopt mobile payments and smart cards. 

First NFC store opens in Tokyo

Japan’s Fukumi Corporation has opened the world’s first physical shop for NFC tags, applications, starter kits and printing and encoding services in Yaesu, Tokyo.

In addition to NFC hardware, the “RFID/NFC Real Touch Shop” offers NFC consulting and guidance services and enables customers to experience real-world NFC applications.