Assa Abloy: NFC Enabled Keys

Last week, I posted a video that showed BMW's NFC key solution.  Below I have included an animated demonstration of Assa Abloy, the key manufacturer, vision for NFC enabled keys - very cool!

Below, I also included a demonstration of a pilot that Assa Abloy ran at Clarion Hotel in Stockholm towards the end of last year.

TSYS & CASSIS Partner to Provide Mobile Solutions

TSYS, the world's second largest credit card processor, and CASSIS, a mobile payment and NFC technology provider, has announced a partnership to provide secure mobile payment, loyalty and commerce functionality.

This will enable TSYS to provide its bank and merchant customers a full range of mobile solutions, from NFC payments to loyalty programs to coupons.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10998316/1/tsys-and-cassis-international-enter-into-mobile-nfc-partnership.html

Starbucks' Payments App and how it could Disrupt the Industry (SAI)

Business Insider has written an interesting piece about the Starbucks payments app and its disruptive potential for a number of payments players. 

Although, I don't agree with much of what they write, I like the idea of a relatively small change/innovation having widereaching implications for an entire industry (and beyond), illustrating the level of uncertainty and number of moving parts in the payments industry right now.

First of all, I should point out that Starbucks' solution is not NFC - it relies on barcode scanning, a much more basic technology, not dissimilar to what FaceCash has introduced.  Whatever form of mobile payments that eventually wins out, I don't think it will be this, and that Starbucks will soon need to upgrade the technology.

I also think Business Insider over-exaggerates the impact that Starbucks will have on the payment industry overall.

Still, if we were to take the article to be about the emergence of mobile payments, rather than simply about Starbucks, it is absolutely worth the read!


http://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-mobile-payments-2011-1#first-heres-how-starbucks-mobile-payments-work-its-really-straightforward-1

Great Article about NFC Deployment by Non-Payment Players (Fast Co.)

In the below article, Fast Company lays out plans for NFC deployment by a range of non-payment players.

• BMW: introducing NFC technology in their keys, enabling the owner to open doors with NFC, store train and flight tickets on the car key and receive a multitude of data about the car, such as; is it locked?, how much fuel does it have?, where is it parked?, etc
• LG: developing both NFC enabled phones and point of sale terminals.  By getting involved with POS terminals, it is involved with the whole ecosystem and may better carve out a meaningful role
• Google, Apple and Nokia: as we I have previously covered, these guys are all developing NFC devices

Beyond payments, Fast Company also make some interesting suggestions for the potential use of NFC in retail and advertising.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1723276/companies-battling-to-make-your-nfc-wireless-credit-card-dreams-come-true