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Tag: nfc

  • Apple introduces Apple Watch

    Apple introduces Apple Watch

    apple-watch

    During the iPhone 6 launch yesterday, Apple announced the Apple Watch, which is its first incursion into the world of wearable tech. The Apple Watch is a smartwatch with a rectangular face, swappable bands, sapphire glass, inductive charging, rotating digital crown, and a heartbeat sensor.

    You will have an opportunity to choose between 6 different straps, including a leather loop, a sport band, stainless steel strap and a classic leather buckle that is easy to adjust.

    The watch will also be available in 2 different sizes and 3 different collections, including the Watch Edition, Watch, and Watch Sport.

    Of course, the Apple Watch will only work in conjunction with an iPhone, so you will have to own a relatively new model starting with iPhone 5.

    Revolutionary you think? 

    During the launch, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said “We love to make new products that improve people’s lives. We love to make things that allow our users to make things that they could never have imagined.” He also added that the Apple Watch will redefine what people expect from its category.

    apple-watch-dark

    How Different is it from the iPhone? 

    Cook stressed that they did not just take the iPhone and transformed it into a watch. Take the Pinch to Zoom for instance, this wouldn’t work on a watch and for that matter, Apple has a small dial on the side of the watch known as the digital crown. Pressing the dial takes you to the home screen which you can personalize.

    They also introduced the digital touch that allows users to quickly share a sketch that is drawn on the watch’s face. Since the watch doesn’t have a keyboard, the digital touch allows you to still communicate relatively complex ideas using sketches. 

    It is also important not to forget the basic function of the watch – it’s a timepiece. The watch is able to keep unfailingly precise time of 50 milliseconds of the global standard time.

    You can also receive and send texts from the watch. You will feel a gentle tap whenever you get a message and you can also send out quick replies. There are customizable animated emoji too.

    The watch is also your intelligent fitness companion as it will provide you with a complete report of you day’s physical activity. This includes the number of steps taken, the frequency, and quality as well. Your Activity App will simply display your fitness level in 3 rings that show your progress and thus provide you with all the motivation you need to exercise more and keep fit.

    The Apple Watch retail price will start at $349 and will be available early 2015.

  • Apple Announces iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

    Apple Announces iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

    iphone-6

    Apple has just announced iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, two new models with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch Retina HD displays, and packed with some new technologies in an all-new thin design.

    iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch display with 1334 x 750 resolution (38 percent more viewing area than iPhone 5s), while iPhone 6 Plus features an even bigger 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution (88 percent more viewing area and nearly three times the pixels than iPhone 5s.)

    iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus include: the A8 chip with second generation 64-bit architecture; improved iSight and FaceTime HD cameras; ultrafast wireless technology VoLTE and Apple Pay, a new mobile payment system:

    Users can pay securely and conveniently in stores by simply holding the phone near the contactless reader while keeping a finger on Touch ID; there is no need to unlock your iPhone or launch an app.

    With Apple Pay, you can also make one-touch purchases within apps, without having to enter credit card or shipping information. All payment information is kept private, encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Element, a chip inside the new iPhones.

    Both models include the M8 motion coprocessor that gathers motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass and the new barometer, which senses air pressure to provide relative elevation.

    iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus include iOS 8 with new Messages and Photos features, QuickType keyboard, a new Health app, Family Sharing and iCloud Drive.

    Pricing and Availability

    iPhone 6 comes in gold, silver or space gray, and will be available in the US for $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 64GB model and for $399 for a new 128GB model (with a two-year contract).

    iPhone 6 Plus comes in the same colors and will be available in the US for $299  for the 16GB model, $399 for the 64GB model and $499 for the new 128GB model (with a two-year contract.)

    iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK beginning on Friday, September 19, and customers can pre-order both models beginning on Friday, September 12.

  • Sample Attendee list just announced for NFC Payments – PayPal, Raley’s, Best Buy, Bank of America, Barclaycard, Verizon, T-Mobile and more to meet

    Press Release

    M for Mobile have released the latest sample of the biggest industry experts to attend this year’s NFC Payments USA (Oct 29-30, Boston) event, taking place in just 2 weeks’ time.

    NFC’s most exciting event yet will reveal a stark comparison and in-depth analysis on NFC as a payments technology, compared with its peer competing payment technologies. 

    It also offers a valuable financial perspective through the high caliber of speakers who will lead the exceptional networking opportunity in Boston on the 29th and 30th of this month, including PayPal, Best Buy, Raley’s, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Bank of America, Citi, Barclaycard, Capital One and many more.

    Identify your future partner here.

    With NFC still topping the charts as the next big thing in mobile payments, this year’s conference is bursting with new ideas including an in-depth comparison and evaluation of NFC Payments technology versus all other forms of mobile payment technologies to measure and plan your future NFC strategy, a financial perspective on NFC including the most effective business models to apply and how to reach the fastest ROI for your organization and the opportunity to network with executives from across the entire NFC ecosystem to form those profitable partnerships for 2013.

    Have a look at the attendees already signed up here.

    Contact [email protected] to see what available discounts are left – make sure you secure your place before.

  • Focus your Mobile Payments business plan on the most lucrative areas

    In conjunction with Mobile Payments Latin America (Dec 5-6, Miami), M for Mobile have released the latest most comprehensive White paper on Mobile Payments in Latin America. The White paper offers you expert insight into the most lucrative areas on mobile payments in Latin America in order to make sure your business plan is on trend and ahead of the game.

    Due to the rapid uptake and developments within mobile payments sector, the biggest and most forward-thinking companies are capitalizing on the industry's critical growth phase.  Through a bespoke survey conducted on just under 100 senior level Latin American industry experts, the exclusive 14 page White paper covers the main areas including Regulation, by assessing legal clarity and the rules for your organization.  It discusses security and how to create trust and confidence for the consumer, as well as value-proposition and the commercial value of establishing common goals when marketing your product.  Interoperability is also analysed and the technical advances to overcome this, as well as mass adoption and the operational strategy when building successful relationships throughout the ecosystem.

    You will also gain insight into which mobile payment technologies you should adopt (SMS, Direct Carrier Billing, Cloud-Based, EMV chip, NFC, Bluetooth) and insight in to the competing technologies you are up against, time frames for mass adoption and Case Studies on mobile payment initiatives to knowledge from and use in your organization’s strategy.

    Click here to view the 14 page exclusive white paper on Mobile Payments Latin America.

  • NFC Payments USA hones in on the most controversial topics for NFC-lovers – yet

    With less than four weeks to go to the event NFC Payments USA (Oct 29-30, Boston) M for Mobile are pulling NFC out from under the carpet and are looking at its strengths, pitfalls, longevity and where it will exist in the future. Press around why it was not included in Apple’s iPhone 5 has shaken peoples trust in NFC and this event is here to expose and resolve all.

    With top speakers from Barclaycard, Bank of America, PayPal, T-Mobile, AT&T, Best Buy, Verizon Wireless, Samsung, MasterCard, VISA, Capital One, CIBC, Citi – and more, the event has gained huge hype and is set to offer a stark comparison of NFC versus all other types of mobile payments.  Alongside case studies from retailers, banks and MNOs, topics include the most lucrative and efficient business models to employ, methods to reach mass adoption, international lessons in NFC and the future of NFC.

    Naomi Hands, Global Head of Marketing at M for Mobile says, “If someone is there that you want to meet, I guarantee you will be able to reach out and exchange business cards with them.  With such a high calibre of attendees it really is an exceptional opportunity to get ahead with NFC.”

    Terri Prince, Director of Mobile Product Solutions at Clairmail suggests what to expect this year, “The sessions were great and informative.  I enjoyed the excellent variety of speakers with their various viewpoints (i.e. merchants, financial institutions, device manufacturers, TSMs etc)”, while Qualcomm added, “There were many excellent speakers, industry experts and multiple opportunities for high quality networking.”

    To find out more about the event or to register and secure your place among the industry’s top thought leaders, click here for more information.

  • Mobile Payments: Increasingly Popular!

    Total value of mobile payment transaction will exceed $171.5 billion worldwide in 2012, meaning an increase of 61.9% compared to 2011, according to the latest figures provided by the consulting company Gartner.

    Total value of payments made with mobile devices will amount to $105.9 billion, while the number of users will reach to 212,200,000 in 2012 from 160,500,000 users in 2011.

    Company specialists expect the overall volume of mobile transactions and the average annual growth to be around 42 percent between 2011 and 2016, estimating a market worth $ 617 billion, with 448 million users by 2016. Sandy Shen, Research Director at Gartner, says that this growth will bring new opportunities for service and solutions providers that will have to respond to local requests to customize their offers.

    Mobile payment market will experience different fragmented services and solutions for the next two years. Technology providers will have to adjust their solutions for the local markets using different access technologies, business models and partnerships, under different regulatory conditions.

    The SMS remains the dominant technology access in developing markets because of constraints on different types of mobile and the easiness in using SMS.

    Web / WAP access is the preferred technology for North America and Western Europe as mobile Internet is commonly available and enabled on users’ devices. Gartner expects that by 2016 account access by Web / WAP to be active for about 88% of transactions in North America and 80 percent in Western Europe.

    Near Field Communication (NFC) transactions will remain relatively low until 2015, although the growth level will begin to increase starting from 2016.

  • RIM Launches Blackberry Bold 9790 and Blackberry Curve 9380

    Canadian smartphone manufacturer Research In Motion has announced today in Jakarta two new models from the series running the new operating system Blackberry 7. The new smartphones, BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380, will be offering a unique design and an impressive suite of features.

    BlackBerry Bold 9790
    The new model from Bold family does not differ very much from the previous 9900. The only difference worth mentioning is its design. BlackBerry Bold 9790 has embossed buttons over the QWERTY keyboard, while the device’s back looks very much like BlackBerry Torch 9850. The new Bold presents – like the BlackBerry 9900 – a touchscreen in addition to the physical QWERTY keyboard.

    BlackBerry Bold 9790 has a 1GHz processor, NFC support and an internal memory of 8GB, which can be easily expanded with a microSD card.

    BlackBerry Curve 9380
    Curve series has always been designed for customers who want an affordable and powerful BlackBerry device and the new model does not disappoint. BlackBerry Curve 9380 is very similar to BlackBerry Storm, being the first device in Curve series with a 3.2-inch touchscreen. The new Curve presents a lot of social media applications preinstalled, such as Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger or Social Feeds.

    BlackBerry Curve 9380 is expected to have a 5-megapixel camera and a 800GHz processor with 1GB of storing memory.

    Rumors inside RIM say that their brand new BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 will be available globally in the next few weeks, but they didn’t disclose any pricing details.

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  • OFFICIAL: Nokia Announces Symbian Belle Along With Three New Smartphones

    Although the news of a new update for Symbian OS, called Belle, has come to our years since Monday, only today has officially been announced by Nokia. But with this announcement, has also come another one of three new smartphones that comes with this OS: Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701. All three are scheduled to appear in the third quarter of this year, which means that we will find them in stores soon.

    The new software brings three new homescreens, doubling up the area the widgets and the shortcuts can be spread, a drop-down menu for notifications and quick access to functions such as turning on the WiFi antenna, support for the NFC technology (also present on Symbian Anna) and software updates directly from the phone. Probably you’ll be amused to see that this update looks like a custom Android skin, which is not such a bad thing for Nokia, thus bringing the Symbian software closer to a modern operating system.

    If we talked a bit about software, let’s say few words about the new handsets, starting with Nokia 700. This one has a 1GHz processor, 3.2-inch AMOLED “ClearBlack display, Gorilla Glass protected, a 5-megapixel camera, pent band antenna, a battery providing 7.3 hours of talk and a design made of recycled materials. The price of this phone will be $ 390.

    Nokia 701 will include a slightly larger display, of 3.5 inches, based on the IPS technology. Also, this display is part of the “ClearBlack” range and is protected by Gorilla Glass. The same 1 GHz processor is also used in the 701 model, but the camera offers a higher resolution, of 8 megapixels and also has a flash with two leds. A camera on the front of the phone is also included, along with an NFC chip. Its internal memory is only 8 GB, but can be increased to 40 through the microSD slot. The battery is also more powerful, Nokia praising this terminal with 17 hours of talk on 2G and 8.8 on 3G calls. The suggested retail price for this phone will be $ 420.

    In the end we talk about the Nokia 600, which is a multimedia-based phone. It includes a 3.2-inch display nHD, 1 GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera (which also shoots in 720p), NFC, FM transmitter and receiver and also 2 GB of internal memory. The phone also has a microSD slot, and is the "noisy" phone company. The battery of this terminal is not that bad, Nokia announcing 15 hours of talk autonomy. Price for the 600 model of the Finnish manufacturer is $ 240.

    Read more:

  • Shipments of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA Handsets Grew 97 Percent in 2010

    According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global shipments of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handsets increased almost 97 percent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a CAGR of 28.8 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 940 million units in 2015.

    The attach rates for wireless connectivity technologies in handsets including GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN are increasing steadily as the adoption of smartphones accelerates. These connectivity technologies are already a standard feature on high-end smartphones. Adoption of GPS and WLAN will also increase rapidly in the medium- and low-end smartphone segments.

    The attach rate for WLAN connectivity in handsets reached 20 percent in 2010. Berg Insight forecasts shipments of WLAN-enabled handsets to reach 900 million in 2015. “There are numerous compelling use cases for WLAN in mobile phones, ranging from offloading data traffic from increasingly congested mobile networks to media synchronisation and hybrid navigation services”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight.

    “Hybrid navigation technologies are necessary to enable reliable positioning indoors. New multi-mode GPS receivers that also support the Russian GLONASS satellite system are already available in handsets. When using the two systems in combination, more visible satellites will increase the chance to receive sufficiently strong signals to get a fix in urban canyons,” he said.

    He added that further performance increases will come from hybrid location technologies that fuse signal measurements from multiple satellite systems, cellular networks and WLAN, together with data from various forms of sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and altimeters.

    Starting in the second half of 2011, more handsets supporting the Near Field Communication (NFC) standard for short-range wireless point-to-point communication will also become available. When deployed in mobile phones, NFC can be used for countless applications such as information exchange, electronic ticketing and mobile payments. Shipments of NFC-enabled handsets are forecasted to increase from less than two million units in 2010 to 400 million units in 2015.

  • Google Nexus S 4G Coming to Sprint

    Sprint has announced the upcoming availability of Nexus S 4G from Google. Coming to Sprint this spring, this Android 2.3-powered device features 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, Super AMOLED 4” display, Google Voice integration, NFC support and Mobile Hotspot capability.

    Manufactured by Samsung, Nexus S 4G comes packed with a "pure Google experience" using Android 2.3, Gingerbread, the fastest version of Android available for smartphones. It is powered by a 1GHz Samsung application processor that produces rich 3D-like graphics, faster upload and download times and supports HD-like multimedia content along with a dedicated GPU. 

    It is designed with Samsung’s Super AMOLED touchscreen technology. The 4-inch Contour Display features a curved design "for a more comfortable look and feel in the user’s hand or along the side of the face." It also offers a screen that is bright with higher color contrast, meaning colors are vibrant and text is crisp at any size and produces less glare than on other smartphone displays when outdoors.

    Nexus S 4G also features a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and camcorder and front-facing VGA camera.

    Additional key features include:

    • 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability, supporting up to six Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously
    • Android Market for access to more than 150,000 applications
    • Google mobile services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps with Navigation, syncing with Google Calendar, Voice Actions and YouTube
    • Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®), personal (POP & IMAP) email and instant messaging
    • Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows the device to read information from everyday objects, like stickers and posters embedded with NFC chips
    • 16GB Internal Memory (ROM)/512MB (RAM)
    • Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n
    • Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR
    • Integrated GPS
    • 1500 mAh Lithium-ion battery

    Sprint Nexus S 4G customers will be among the first to receive Android software upgrades and new Google mobile apps. In many cases, the device will get the updates and new apps as soon as they are available.

    "Nexus S 4G shows the strong commitment Sprint has to Android, and when combined with our 4G network capabilities, it gives customers the option of a pure Google experience," said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. "As the first 4G smartphone with Android 2.3, Nexus S 4G delivers on the promise of the advanced data capabilities of 4G to deliver an incredible Web browsing experience, offers quick and easy access to future Android updates and access to the services built into Google Voice."

    Andy Rubin, vice president of Engineering at Google, stated: "We’re excited to partner with Sprint on Nexus S 4G, which brings innovative hardware by Samsung and innovations on the Android platform, to create a powerful smartphone experience,"

    Nexus S 4G will be available exclusively from Sprint this spring for $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade.