Barnes & Noble’s Nook eReader business is expected to see continued growth and was recently spun off into a new subsidiary that Microsoft invested $300 million in. The company’s CEO William Lynch sat down with Fortune and spoke about the future of the Nook business, and the executive said NFC-equipped Nook eReaders will be released as early as this year. “We’re going to start embedding NFC chips into our Nooks,” the CEO said. “We can work with the publishers so they would ship a copy of each hardcover with an NFC chip embedded with all the editorial reviews they can get on BN.com. And if you had your Nook, you can walk up to any of our pictures, any our aisles, any of our bestseller lists, and just touch the book, and get information on that physical book on your Nook and have some frictionless purchase experience. That’s coming, and we could lead in that area.”

Read

Barclays on Thursday announced the launch of the Barclaycard PayTag, a sticker that can be placed on any handset to equip it with instant NFC compatibility. The PayTag is an extension of a customer’s credit card account that can be used to make payments of £15 and under, though the limit will rise to £20 in June, and it is available at no cost to Barclaycard owners. “Today, we are offering the choice of mobile payments to millions of our customers at no additional cost to them,” David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said. “More than half of us say that the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone, so we’re giving people the option of using them to make easy, convenient, everyday payments without the need to upgrade their current handset.” The PayTag will be released to a select group of customers in the coming weeks, with mass availability coming later this year. Barclays’ commercial and press release follows below.

Barclaycard today announced the launch of Barclaycard PayTag, a new way to pay with your mobile telephone

Barclaycard today announced the launch of Barclaycard PayTag, a new way to pay with your mobile telephone. Millions of Barclaycard customers will be offered the chance to make payments with any mobile phone by simply sticking a Barclaycard PayTag to the back of their handset.

Available at no cost, and exclusively to Barclaycard Visa cardholders, Barclaycard

PayTag is an extension of a customer’s credit card account. At a third of the size of a normal card, it can be discreetly and simply stuck to the back of any mobile phone. Once attached, it can be used to make payments of £15 and under, rising to £20 in June, by simply being held over a contactless payment terminal.

David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said: “Today, we are offering the choice of mobile payments to millions of our customers at no additional cost to them. More than half of us say that the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone[1], so we’re giving people the option of using them to make easy, convenient, everyday payments without the need to upgrade their current handset.”

The announcement comes as Visa predicts that the number of contactless point-of-sale terminals in the UK will rise by 50% to 150,000 this year. Major retailers that offer, or are introducing, contactless include Waitrose, McDonalds, Boots, WH Smith and Tesco. By the end of 2012, London buses will also accept contactless payments, followed by the Tube and the rest of the transport network in the Capital in 2013.

Barclaycard PayTag is safe and secure, and comes with the same 100% fraud protection as any Barclaycard. An exclusive group of customers will be invited to receive their Barclaycard PayTag in the coming weeks, before they are offered to millions of Barclaycard customers later in the year.

David Chan, adds: “Barclaycard is developing a wide range of initiatives which will ultimately enable everyone to enjoy the benefits of mobile payments. Barclaycard PayTag is another milestone on our journey to make paying easier, and sits alongside other easy ways to pay with your mobile such as those we offer in partnership with Orange.”

Last week Barclaycard and Orange announced that credit or debit card holders from all UK banks would be able to load money onto Barclaycard’s mobile payments application, in the Quick Tap wallet. This will open up the opportunity for contactless payments to more Orange customers. Orange also confirmed that it would be making Quick Tap available on a range of Android smartphones, with the first to be announced in the coming weeks.

Research carried out on Barclaycard’s behalf predicts that £3 billion worth of purchases will be made with mobile phones in the UK in 2016[2]. Barclaycard PayTag provides customers with the choice of simple mobile phone payments now, without having to wait to upgrade, and at no additional cost.

To find out more and to register interest in Barclaycard PayTag, please visit barclaycard.co.uk/paytag.

Global sales of NFC-equipped smartphones increased tenfold to 30 million units in 2011, according to a report from Berg Insight. The research firm estimates that by 2016 there will more than 700 million handsets with NFC capabilities. In 2011, several leading handset vendors released more than 40 NFC-enabled devices. “Even though it will take some time before the stakeholders agree on business models for payment networks, other use cases such as reading tags and easy pairing of devices may well be compelling enough for handset vendors to integrate NFC in mid- and high-end devices already today,” said André Malm, a senior analyst at Berg Insight. Google has already launched its Wallet service, as Apple, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile ready their own payment platforms. Previous estimates stated that more than 50% of all smartphones will be NFC enabled in the next two to three years with the help of Apple’s upcoming iPhone, which has long been rumored to include the technology. Read on for Berg Insight’s press release.

Shipments of NFC-enabled handsets reached 30 million units in 2011

Gothenburg, Sweden – March 26, 2012: According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global sales of handsets featuring Near Field Communication (NFC) increased ten-fold in 2011 to 30 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 87.8 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 700 million units in 2016. The global rise in smartphone adoption is also driving higher attach rates for other wireless connectivity technologies in handsets including GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN. These connectivity technologies are already a standard feature on high-end smartphones and most medium- and low-end models. Declining costs will also enable broader integration in the featurephone segment that is rapidly gaining smartphone-like functionality.

The attach rate for GPS among GSM/WCDMA/LTE handsets reached 31 percent in 2011 and grew to 38 percent for all air interface standards. Shipments of WLAN-enabled handsets have more or less doubled annually in the past four years and the attach rate increased to 33 percent in 2011. WLAN connectivity in handsets enables a range of use cases including offloading data traffic from increasingly congested mobile networks, media synchronisation and indoor navigation services. “Reliable indoor navigation systems for handsets need hybrid location technologies that fuse signal measurements from multiple satellite systems like GPS and GLONASS with cellular and WLAN network signals, together with data from sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses and altimeters”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that periodic calibrations using satellite and wireless network signals are necessary to compensate for the low data accuracy and high drift obtained from low cost sensors used in handsets today.

The NFC technology for short-range wireless point-to-point communication reached a breakthrough in 2011 when several leading handset vendors released more than 40 NFC-enabled handsets. NFC can be used for countless applications such as paring devices to establish Bluetooth or WLAN connections, information exchange, electronic ticketing and secure contactless payments. “Even though it will take some time before the stakeholders agree on business models for payment networks, other use cases such as reading tags and easy pairing of devices may well be compelling enough for handset vendors to integrate NFC in mid- and high-end devices already today” concluded Mr Malm.

Google temporarily disabled the use of prepaid cards with its Wallet service last month as a precautionary measure following the discovery of several security threats. In an email obtained by Droid-Life, Google announced that its Wallet service has been updated and the newest version allows users to again add prepaid cards. “We are happy to announce that you can now add the Google Prepaid Card back to your wallet with the newest version of Google Wallet, and any funds that you previously had on the card should be restored, unless you contacted Money Network and asked for a refund of those funds,” the email read. “To add the Google Prepaid Card back, you will first need to update your Google Wallet application to the most recent version.” The company acknowledged the inconvenience of the situation and will credit Wallet users with an additional $5 for their patience. Google’s email follows below.

Hello,

As you may have experienced over the last few weeks, we temporarily disabled the feature to add the Google Prepaid Card back to your wallet if you previously removed the card or reset your wallet. We temporarily disabled this feature to ensure the security of our Wallet customers. We recognize this may have been an inconvenience for you, and we did not make this decision lightly.

We are happy to announce that you can now add the Google Prepaid Card back to your wallet with the newest version of Google Wallet, and any funds that you previously had on the card should be restored, unless you contacted Money Network and asked for a refund of those funds. To add the Google Prepaid Card back, you will first need to update your Google Wallet application to the most recent version.

To compensate you for any inconvenience this may have caused, we have credited an additional $5 (five US dollars) to your Google Prepaid Card. If you have further questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at 855-492-5538.

Thank you for your continued support of Google Wallet, and we look forward to launching many new and exciting features for you to enjoy in the coming months.

Sincerely,
The Google Wallet Team

Read

Google’s mobile payment service has gotten a fair amount of attention from the media, but user and partner adoption has been slow since the service was unveiled nearly a year ago. Google Wallet is the Internet giant’s eWallet offering, which incorporates NFC technology and allows users to pay for purchases using their Android smartphones rather than physical credit cards. According to Bloomberg, Google is now rethinking its service in an effort to bolster adoption. Citing multiple unnamed sources, the site claims Google is currently weighing the possibility of implementing a revenue-sharing model that would give wireless carriers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T a cut of Google’s fees when subscribers make purchases using their Google Wallet-enabled devices. “They are in a bit of a re-evaluation pattern right now,” Aite Group analyst Rick Oglesby told Bloomberg. “It’s going much slower than anticipated.”

Read

During the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, PayPal finally showed off its upcoming digital wallet product that will compete with the likes of Google Wallet and other digital payment platforms. The EBay-run eBay Ink blog also posted a pair of videos on Tuesday in which PayPal vice president of global product and experience Sam Shrauger walks us through a number of the new eWallet product’s capabilities. PayPal’s digital wallet has a simple desktop interface and of course it features mobile compatibility and a number of now-common features, but there are also a few intriguing features that aren’t common among rival offerings. One such feature allows the user to pay for something with PayPal’s digital wallet while on the go, and then log in to his or her account at a later time and choose which credit card or bank account should supply the funds for the purchase. This feature and more are explained in a pair of videos from eBay and PayPal, which follow below.

Read

Sony on Tuesday announced the Xperia sola, the latest addition the company’s Android portfolio. The handset is equipped with a 3.7-inch Reality Display, a 1GHz dual-core processor, NFC and Android 2.3 Gingerbread with an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich promised for the summer months. The Xperia sola also features “floating touch” navigation, which enables “magic” web browsing without physically touching the screen. “Xperia sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web and latest technology to show off,” said Calum MacDougall, Sony’s Head of Xperia marketing. The device also comes with two NFC Xperia SmartTags in the box, which owners can use to launch a pre-configured profile on their smartphone. The two SmartTags included with the handset can be personalized with up to 10 commands. The Xperia sola will be available worldwide in black, white and red in the second quarter of 2012. Hit the break for Sony’s press release and a video showcasing the Xperia sola.

Xperia sola from Sony – the smartphone with a sense of magic

· Introducing “floating touch” navigation for magic web browsing without touching the screen
· Easily open apps and launch actions in an instant with NFC and Xperia SmartTags
· Reality Display with Mobile Bravia engine and fast capture camera boosted by a powerful dual-core processor

13 March, London, United Kingdom – Sony Mobile Communications today announced Xperia™ sola* as the latest addition to its portfolio of Android powered Xperia smartphones. Complete with Sony technology, premium entertainment and innovative floating touch™ navigation, the NFC enabled Xperia sola comes equipped with Xperia SmartTags, allowing consumers to change their smartphone’s settings and applications to fit their lifestyle in an instant. Xperia sola will be available to consumers globally in black, white and red in the second quarter.

A floating touch of magic

Making its smartphone debut exclusively on Xperia sola, Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen. Once the desired link is found it can be highlighted and a simple tap will load the page. Floating touch will evolve with new user functionality and applications through software updates and engagement with developers.

Calum MacDougall, Head of Xperia Marketing for Sony Mobile Communications, commented; “Xperia sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web and latest technology to show off. With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access to the latest content through Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia sola is perfect for consumers looking for ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone.”

Simplify the everyday with SmartTags

Xperia sola is NFC enabled and comes with two NFC Xperia SmartTags in the box as standard to simplify consumers’ everyday smartphone experiences. By touching an NFC Android smartphone on a SmartTag, a pre-configured profile in the smartphone will launch. The two SmartTags included with Xperia sola can be personalized with up to 10 commands. Out of the box they are ready for the living room to turn on Wi-Fi™ and launches Google™ news and weather apps, or for the bedroom, which turns on the alarm and switches to silent mode. Xperia sola supports NFC pairing, allowing consumers to enjoy great connectivity with other
NFC smartphones, applications and services by tapping their smartphones together.

Powerful entertainment anytime, anywhere Xperia sola boasts razor sharp clarity with Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine, xLOUD™ and 3D surround sound audio technology delivering crisp and loud sound, and a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast performance. Xperia sola also comes with fast capture to take the camera from sleep to snap
in a little over a second with a single key press.

Consumers can also access premium entertainment experiences with Sony Entertainment Network**, where they can watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters on Video Unlimited or listen to millions of songs*** through
Music Unlimited.

Key features for Xperia sola
• Floating touch navigation for an easy web browsing experience
• NFC enabled and Xperia SmartTags in the box to enable quick app loading and easy content sharing
• 3.7″ Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine gives razor sharp clarity
• Powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast browsing
• xLOUD and 3D surround sound audio technology for crisp and loud listening
• Direct access to Sony Entertainment Network* with pre-installed Video and Music Unlimited** apps
• Launches on Android platform 2.3, upgrade to Android 4.0 during summer 2012

Apple on Tuesday was granted a significant patent by the United States Trademark & Patent Office, Patently Apple reported. The technology, which is supported by 23 Patent Claims, allows credit card companies to send statements directly to a user’s iTunes account for purchases made using an NFC-enabled iPhone. Account holders will also be able to allow a secondary account holder, such as a child, to make purchases on the same card while allowing the primary account holder to control spending and implement various limits. Even though NFC technology has been featured in a number of Android devices, some believe that the technology won’t go mainstream in a number of markets until an iPhone is equipped with a mobile payment solution.

Read

Google announced at the Mobile Money: Delivering Innovative Mobile Payment Services panel during Mobile World Congress that Sprint will introduce “at least 10 additional phones” with Google Wallet support in 2012, Fierce Mobile Content reported on Thursday. The Samsung Nexus S 4G is the only smartphone currently offered by the carrier that supports Google’s NFC mobile payment system. Both the Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper will launch with Wallet support later this year, however, and Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and Payments, said Google is continuing talks with other carriers, device manufacturers, banks, financial service providers and point-of-sale technology vendors to further extend the company’s Wallet network.

Read

Visa on Monday announced a “one-stop” mobile payment solution that looks to compete directly with Google Wallet and the carrier-backed ISIS payment system. After a consumer purchases a “Visa-certified” NFC-equipped smartphone, he or she can contact the company and activate the handset for mobile payments. The device will be securely linked with a user’s bank account and can then be used to make mobile payments anywhere Visa’s payWave system is accepted. “In the same way we have enabled the secure provisioning of payment cards for decades, we are now using mobile technology to securely provision mobile payment accounts over the air,” Visa’s Head of Mobile Products Bill Gajda said. “Financial institutions, mobile network operators, and even transit operators now have a simple, secure process to activate payment applications at scale and make mobile payments part of everyday life for consumers around the world.” The company announced that Intel Atom-powered smartphones and tablets will be the first Visa-certified devices to allow mobile subscribers to securely make NFC purchases. Read on for the company’s press release.

New Visa Service Provides Secure “Over the Air” Provisioning of Mobile Payment Accounts

Global service transforms smartphones into Visa payment devices. “One-stop” solution enables financial institutions to wirelessly link Visa accounts with NFC-enabled devices

Mobile World Congress 2012
BARCELONA, Spain–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today announced a new service that provides financial institutions and mobile network operators with a one-stop solution to securely download payment account information to smartphones enabled with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The new service was developed in collaboration with Oberthur Technologies, a leading Trusted Service Management (TSM) company whose software and platforms are used to manage the provisioning and activation of payment accounts on cards and mobile devices.

The new offering by Visa brings together the necessary parties in the mobile payments ecosystem and lays the foundation for financial services providers and mobile network operators to securely and efficiently link Visa payment accounts to smartphones, while also offering a solution to manage those accounts post activation.

“In the same way we have enabled the secure provisioning of payment cards for decades, we are now using mobile technology to securely provision mobile payment accounts over the air,” said Bill Gajda, Head of Mobile Products, Visa Inc. “Financial institutions, mobile network operators, and even transit operators now have a simple, secure process to activate payment applications at scale and make mobile payments part of everyday life for consumers around the world.”

Working with Oberthur Technologies gives Visa access to technology that delivers Visa payWave, Visa’s contactless payment technology, and other payment applications “over the air” to a consumer’s NFC-equipped smartphone, along with the secure credentials needed to authenticate the consumer.

“The combination of Oberthur Technologies advanced technology with Visa’s global secure network will deliver a powerful tool for financial institutions and mobile network operators to move quickly into the growing market for mobile payments,” said Arnaud de La Chapelle, General Manager, Convergence & Solutions, Oberthur Technologies. “We’re extremely pleased to extend our relationship with Visa in this innovative area.”

The new solution addresses a crucial need for Visa account issuers, mobile operators, and others who want to enable mobile payments at scale. The next stage of the product, an interconnectivity “hub”, will enable frictionless “many-to-many” interactions avoiding the need for parties to form bilateral commercial and technical relationships, even for entities using other TSM solutions.

How It Works

For consumers the service will include support for Visa and non-Visa payment, loyalty or mass transit applications on their smartphone. Because of the flexible and global nature of the technology, consumers could, for example, use their mobile phone to download the appropriate mass transit application to pay for a subway ride in a distant city. A typical consumer experience to provision a smartphone for payments may include the following steps:

• The consumer purchases an NFC-equipped mobile phone that has passed Visa’s compliance testing, from their choice of operator
• The consumer contacts the financial institution that issued their Visa account, or responds to an offer from a service provider or operator, asking to activate mobile payments with their smartphone
• Visa’s mobile provisioning solution links the appropriate parties and begins the process of provisioning the mobile phone for payment:
  • Authenticates the account holder by requesting the user enter a passcode
  • Facilitate the exchange of secure “keys” among the various parties that unlock the NFC-enabled chip on the smartphone
  • Initiates the secure download of payment account information to the smartphone

Intel, with its new Intel® Atom™-based smartphones and tablets, has agreed to use Visa’s global provisioning service to enable mobile subscribers to securely download payment account information to NFC-enabled devices.

Mobile payment joint venture ISIS, a partnership between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, on Monday announced launch partners and availability. The service will become available in mid-2012 starting with locations across Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas. Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard have entered into agreements to offer credit, debit and prepaid cards alongside the service. “Today’s announcement is testament to the vision and commitment of Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard to make mobile commerce a real and positive experience for their customers,” said Michael Abbott, CEO of ISIS. “Mobile commerce is more than a new way to pay; it’s about extending the relationships consumers enjoy with their banks and merchants into a powerful and convenient new form factor.” Read on for the company’s press release.

Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard First to Place Their Cards in the Isis™ Mobile Wallet

Starting This Summer, the Isis Mobile Wallet Will Be Available to More Than 100 Million U.S. Card Holders

BARCELONA, Spain – February 27, 2012 – Isis™, the mobile commerce joint venture created by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, today announced that Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard have entered into agreements with Isis enabling their credit, debit and prepaid cards to be placed into the Isis Mobile Wallet. Starting in mid-2012, consumers will be able to load their eligible Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard cards into their Isis Mobile Wallet and shop at participating merchants, starting with locations across Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.

“Today’s announcement is testament to the vision and commitment of Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard to make mobile commerce a real and positive experience for their customers,” said Michael Abbott, CEO, Isis. “Mobile commerce is more than a new way to pay; it’s about extending the relationships consumers enjoy with their banks and merchants into a powerful and convenient new form factor.”

The Isis Mobile Wallet will provide consumers with a convenient and secure way to pay, redeem coupons and present loyalty credentials, all with the tap of their phone. Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard will tailor their cardholder service experience within the Isis Mobile Wallet to reflect their respective brands and ensure a seamless and secure experience across physical cards and mobile platforms.

“Chase is committed to making mobile commerce a reality,” said Richard Quigley, president, Chase Card Services. “By working with Isis, we are excited to help pave the way for innovation in the mobile payments space and to provide cardmembers with a secure option for easier and faster payments on the go.”

Last July, Isis announced relationships with the top four U.S. payment networks: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Isis’ relationship with the four U.S. payment networks provides banks with the freedom to enable any major network payment card and provide consumers with ubiquity and freedom of choice when deciding which of those cards to load into their Isis Mobile Wallet.

“Our customers have embraced digital and mobile banking and are demanding new and easier ways to manage their financial lives,” said Jack Forestell, executive vice president, Digital, Capital One. “Our relationship with Isis creates an exciting opportunity for our customers to begin to fully experience the power of mobile commerce.”

Today’s announcement underscores Isis’ inclusive approach, providing all stakeholders – banks, merchants and consumers – with the freedom and choice necessary to foster a robust new industry. Isis is building an ecosystem to provide consumers with a ubiquitous and positive experience across all participating carriers, phone models, payment networks, merchants and banks.

“We believe Isis is strongly positioned to bring the convenience, value and simplicity of mobile commerce to consumers,” said Stewart Holmes, senior director-mobile commerce strategy, Barclaycard US. “We’re excited to build this offering for customers and our card partners with Isis and look forward to shaping the future of payments.”

The Isis Mobile Wallet will initially launch in Salt Lake City and Austin in mid-2012 and is planning a national rollout to follow.

“While mobile wallets may look and smell the same from afar, Isis is setting itself apart by patiently building an ecosystem of issuer, network and merchant partners, offering an open platform that leaves partners in control of how they will communicate with their customers, and leaving the partners in control of sensitive payment and marketing data transiting over the platform,” says Gwenn Bézard, research director with Aite Group. “Isis’ new announcement sends a clear signal: it is serious about scaling mobile payments.”

Images of LG’s mid-range Windows Phone — the Miracle, previously code-named Fantasy — have been published once again, this time with an accompanying video. The images and footage were obtained by Mobilissimo and confirm the handset’s 5-megapixel rear camera and 4-inch display. The Mango-powered smartphone is also rumored to feature a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage and an NFC chip, although Windows Phone 7.5 Mango does not yet include support for NFC. LG is expected to unveil the Miracle at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Read on for additional images and a video of the Miracle in action.

Read

LG is preparing to unveil a mid-range Windows Phone code-named “Miracle” at this year’s Mobile World Congress trade show, according to PocketNow. The Mango-powered handset will feature a 4-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage, a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 720p video and a VGA front-facing camera. Perhaps the most interesting detail is the smartphone’s purported NFC capabilities, although it is unclear how this feature will be implemented in a handset running Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango,” which doesn’t currently support NFC. The Miracle will reportedly be released sometime this spring.

Read

We’re still waiting for Microsoft to launch Windows Phone “Tango,” but supposed details have already emerged surrounding the next major Windows Phone release code-named “Apollo.” According to Pocketnow, which claims to have obtained a video of Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore that was intended to be viewed only by Nokia employees, Apollo will launch as Windows Phone 8. Read on for more.

Reportedly, Microsoft’s theme for the launch is “scale and choice,” and Apollo will add support for four different screen resolutions, multi-core processors, removable microSD cards and near-field communications (NFC) for mobile payments. Belfiore is said to have discussed Windows Phone 8′s “wallet experience,” and how the operating system will use NFC chips built into the phone itself or into SIM cards. Windows Phone 8 owners may also be able to tap their phone to an NFC-equipped computer running Windows 8 to share media, a feature HP tried to bring to the masses with its TouchPad tablet and Pre 3 smartphone.

Pocketnow said it is possible that Microsoft will ditch the Zune client and will instead offer a new and improved syncing interface, as well as flushed out Xbox LIVE support. Other features include DataSmart data management, BitLocker encryption, a new integrated Skype client and more. Microsoft also apparently said it hopes its Windows Phone Marketplace will be home to more than 100,000 applications by the time it launches Windows Phone 8.

It remains unclear when Windows Phone 8 might become available on current Windows Phone smartphones or on new devices.

Read

Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard’s head of emerging payments, sat down with Austin Carr of Fast Company to discuss the future of credit cards. “We’re rapidly moving to a world beyond plastic,” said McLaughlin. “In many ways, plastic is just convenient packaging.” The future of on-the-go payments may lie in the hands of near-field communication but unfortunately, adoption and availability have been extremely slow and limited. While NFC technology has been featured in a number of Android devices, MasterCard seems to think it won’t go mainstream until an iPhone is equipped with the mobile payment solution. Read on for more.

“The timeline is always as rapid as it makes sense for consumers,” McLaughlin said. “That’s a combination of having a critical mass of the merchants, which is what you’re seeing right now, and getting devices into the hands of consumers. I don’t know of a handset manufacturer that isn’t in process of making sure their stuff is PayPass ready.” When asked specifically if Apple was one of these manufacturers, McLaughlin stuttered. “Um, there are…like I say, [I don't know of] any handset maker out there,” he said. “Now, when we have discussions with our partners, and they ask us not to disclose them, we don’t.”

Apple has repeatedly shown that it is one of the few consumer electronics companies right now with the ability to transform and create entire industries. Prior to iTunes and the iPod, virtually no one paid for digital music, and media tablets were a non-factor until the iPad. Does the mobile payment industry need Apple to become a mainstream phenomenon? “Well, anytime someone with a major base moves forward, it advances what you’re doing. So of course,” McLaughlin said. “I think as merchants provide these better interfaces for consumers–a better way of transacting–I think any consumer-focused technology provider would want to take advantage of it.”

Read