CorFire Market Watch, 7-01-2011
Week ending July 01, 2011
CorFire and InComm announce new mobile commerce platform
CorFire, the mobile commerce business of SK C&C USA, and InComm, a provider of stored-value gift and prepaid products, announced the formation of a new strategic partnership. The partners will deploy a mobile commerce platform aimed at delivering promotion, loyalty and general payment solutions to national retail merchants….
PCI issues new guidance for mobile payment apps
The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the industry body that develops and administers the payment industry's data security standard (PCI DSS), released its much-anticipated clarification to rules concerning mobile payment acceptance applications. The announcement was intended to give direction to developers and merchants on how the Council will evaluate mobile payment apps in the future under its Payment Applications Data Security Standard (PA DSS)….
Danish Telcos Form Joint Venture to Keep Control of NFC Revenue
The telcos, TDC, Telenor, TeliaSonera and 3 Denmark, today said they had formed the venture to put in place a common platform and possibly a common brand for their planned NFC mobile wallets.
The telcos would enable such services as payment, loyalty, ticketing and ID through the wallets, which will probably launch by the end of 2012, followed by larger rollouts in 2013, the telcos told NFC Times….
ViVOtech lands $24M to boost NFC efforts
Near Field Communication software firm ViVOtech closed a Series C financing round extension totaling $24 million. EDBI, SingTel Innov8 and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital joined current investors Alloy Ventures, Citi Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Gotham, First Data Corporation, Miven Ventures, Motorola Mobility, Nokia Growth Partners and NCR. ViVOtech will leverage the new funding to support its international expansion; the company's m-commerce solutions enable in-store payment, marketing and merchandising programs.
Square Closes That $100 Million Round, Mary Meeker Joins Board
It’s official. Jack Dorsey’s Square has joined the billion dollar valuation club. The mobile payments startup closed a $100 million series C led by Kleiner Perkins, a story we broke a few weeks ago. The new round values Square above $1 billion….
Federal Reserve Issues Final Rule on Durbin Amendment
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve have issued the final rule governing debit card interchange fees, the fraud prevention adjustment, and routing and exclusivity restrictions….
Study: Coupons and security will influence mobile payment adoption
A new study by research firm StrategyOne, commissioned by point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone, finds most adults in the United States are aware of mobile payments. It also finds many consumers are willing to give mobile payments a try, especially if they get some value besides waving their phones for a payment. But the study warns consumers are still concerned about the reliability and safety of mobile payments….
Mobile banking could reach 2 billion unbanked consumers, report says
Norwegian mobile communications company Telenor Group released a new study examining the effects that mobile money will have on the unbanked. The study, called "Socio-economic impact of mobile financial services," predicts a staggering 2 billion people who are currently unbanked could have access to basic financial services through mobile devices….
Mobile payments to reach 2.5B users globally by 2015: study
With the exponential growth of feature and smartphones, mobile payments have taken off and are predicted to grow 40 percent and reach 2.5 billion users globally by 2015, according to Juniper Research.
Juniper found that users making payments for digital goods will reach 2.5 billion consumers worldwide – up from the 1.8 billion forecast for 2011. The study also suggests that the Far East and China region will consume the largest amount of activity with 30 percent of total usage coming from the area….
Mobile transactions expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2015: Yankee Group
Mobile transactions will continue to grow exponentially and are expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2015, according to a new study by Yankee Group. The research, titled “The Mobile Money Forecast,” finds that not only is Near Field Communication taking off, it is here to stay. The study also shows a specific growth with mobile banking compared to mcommerce, mobile coupons and mobile payments….
Starbucks adds mobile gifting feature to iPhone app
Starbucks is extending its Starbucks Card eGift feature to its iPhone and iPod touch application, enabling consumers to treat friends and family to beverages, food or merchandise directly via mobile device. Starbucks for iPhone users can send gifts valued between $5 and $100 to anyone on their Facebook friends list, complete with personalized messages--recipients can redeem the gift at participating company-owned and licensed Starbucks stores across the U.S., or on the web at starbucksstore.com….
VingCard launches NFC room key system for hotels
VingCard Elsafe has launched a new solution for hotels that uses NFC-enabled mobile phones as virtual guestroom keys. The new solution is based on the mobile key technology tested earlier this year by VingCard and parent company Assa Abloy at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm. It allows hotel guests to book their hotel rooms as usual, through a PC or any other web-enabled device. On the day of arrival, the room number and the digital hotel room key is sent securely to the guest's mobile phone. When the guest arrives at the hotel, they can skip past the front desk and go directly to their room. The hotel room door is unlocked by simply holding the NFC phone near the door lock….