Radio Frequency Technology

Discover Network's recent certification of ViVOtech card readers indicates Discover is moving ahead with a contactless card program, but the No. 4 general-purpose card network is staying mum about the details. Discover says it has certified several readers from Santa Clara, Calif.-based ViVOtech Inc., a specialist in contactless payment hardware, …

Peppercoin Inc., which started out as a processor of so-called micropayments for online content but soon began to embrace small-value point-of-sale transactions, now sees opportunity in both contactless technology and vending markets, its top executive says. “We've set bigger sights for ourselves,” says Mark Friedman, chief executive of the Waltham, …

The business of putting debit cards in bank customers' hands on the spot, at the moment they open an account, is growing rapidly and may soon include prepaid cards and credit cards, according to a supplier of software that controls the process. Dynamic Card Solutions, Englewood, Colo., says it now …

Privaris Inc. expects to begin pilots for a biometrically secured contactless-payment fob in both physical point-of-sale and Internet payment applications by year's end, an executive with the Charlottesville, Va.-based company says. While the device, which Privaris announced last week as the first contactless key fob secured by fingerprint ID, has …

Some 1,000 Coca-Cola vending machines in Philadelphia will be equipped with contactless-payment technology over the next four weeks, and will all be accepting contactless tokens for payment by the end of July, according to USA Technologies Inc., the Malvern, Pa.-based company whose e-Port radio-frequency device is being used with the …

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest issuer of contactless credit cards in the country with 7 million in circulation, is now adding contactless payment technology to its debit cards. The banking giant, which brands its contactless cards “blink,” has plans to re-issue 1.8 million debit cards with the Visa mark …

New technical specifications for so-called near-field communication (NFC), released this week by an international rules-setting body backing the technology, should add momentum in the U.S. to the trend toward contactless payments on mobile phones. “A lot's happening behind closed doors,” says Erik Michielsen, director of RFID and M2M research at …

The Utah Transit Authority in November will begin accepting contactless payment tokens in a pilot project that will represent the first use of contactless technology to process bus fares in the U.S. The Salt Lake City-based transit agency in September will begin equipping 41 buses that ferry passengers to local …

The chief executive of the company holding the largest market share of installed readers for contactless payments predicts the technology, assisted by near-field communication (NFC) capability, will move rapidly from the physical point of sale to e-commerce. Mohammad Khan, president and founder of ViVOtech Inc., which makes electronic wallets for …

Seeking to remove a roadblock standing in the way to eventual mass consumer usage of mobile phones equipped with a form of contactless technology called near-field communication (NFC), MasterCard International this week unveiled a service that will allow cell-phone users to download their account data and other critical information to …