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Gemalto is hosting their famous Mobile World Congress (MWC) Q&A session on their blog. A few weeks I inquired about the future of NFC, mobile payments and banking, and wondered if these technologies would be better targeted at emerging markets where smartphone penetration is higher than PC. The reason I asked is because I spent half my life in Malaysia and have families there, so I am aware on how high smartphone penetration is there when compared to traditional computers. Even then, mobile banking has yet to take off. Heck, they have yet to embrace chip & pin solutions as we have here (my dad still insists on using signatures!). In a country that has yet to have a single payment technology establishing itself on the market like chip & pin has done here, I figured it would more sense to target them. After all, it appears that people in emerging developing countries are addicted to smartphones, and with NFC becoming more prevalent, it seems ripe for the technology t...

Two weeks ago I embarked on a challenge: to go contactless for 1 1/2 weeks. On some days, I had to go fully on contactless payment for the entire day. On others, I had to tick off challenges issued by Gemalto and my social media followers. To make it a bit more interesting, I was pitted against Ewan of MobileIndustryReview . It was a crazy 10 days, as far as spending money is concerned. If you are interested, you can read my extensive diary of some sorts, detailing the daily challenges I had to endure. While the use of NFC and RFID is widespread, contactless payment is a rather new thing in this country. If you have visited London, chances are you've used RFID technology, the precursor to NFC, thanks to the prevalent Oyster card. Most new built residential buildings uses a key fob entry system, which are based on RFID technologies. Chances are your passport, libraries and pets have RFID embedded in them. It really isn't that new a technology, but it is ev...

The second to final day of my #GemaltoNFC Contactless Challenge revealed some unexpected results. The first was McDonalds, a fast food joint I would not normally visit expect I did so this morning because, you know, you kinda have to visit once to test their contactless machines. You can chalk that up as a fail though, as the machine simply failed to read the Samsung Galaxy S III, spurting out nonsensical messages like 'access denied' or 'merchant denied' or something to that effect. Contactless not accepted here A visit to the local Sainsbury's also yielded a negative feedback as they do not accept contactless, even on the self service machines. With many Waitrose, Tesco and Marks & Spencer stores now deploying contactless, Sainsbury's is well behind their rivals. The final fail of the day was an attempt to rent a movie from Blockbuster. I thought if I was not able to watch a film at a cinema (despite attempting to do so at six cinemas, no less), then at le...

After a week of almost using contactless exclusively as part of the #GemaltoNFC Contactless Challenge, I am comfortably leading Ewan 194-152. Ewan has jetted off to Barcelona, where he will be testing GSMA's favourite mobile city's NFC infrastructure. As for me, I am continuing my quest to uncover more shops that features contactless. Despite leading Ewan, I know he isn't one to give up easily. So do hit me up with more contactless challenges! Monday was a fairly quiet affair as far as contactless went. Boots was my first port of call where I collected a bunch of photographs and developed film negatives (yes we still use those!). The pictures turned out okay (expired film, plastic lens and all), but it was the reaction of the cashier which was priceless. "I am an old lady, you won't see me ever using those! I am happy I could send texts and make phone calls!" was the reply when I implied NFC was the future! Stopping at Marks & Spencers to grab dinner only...

It's been a week since me and Ewan of MobileIndustryReview started our Gemalto NFC Contactless Challenge . During the weekend I decided to take it slow, aiming to complete the remaining challenges at a leisurely pace as well as discovering new stores offering contactless. Four challenges remained: get a hair cut, groceries, watch a movie at a cinema and buy a round of drink - all of which I have to pay for using contactless payment. On Saturday I truly believed I finally cracked one of the toughest challenges we have been set - the hair cut. As I walked into the Alternative Barbering Co. in St Albans, a sticker by the door proudly claims that PayPass (Mastercard's brand for contactless) is accepted. Well I was wrong, sort of. While getting my long overdue hair cut, I chatted with the owner who duly informed me that they once did, but not any longer. This is due to a number of factors including that the system was tied to Barclaycard and nobody used it. The PDQ termin...

We are half way through Gemalto's NFC Contactless Challenge. I do hope my blog posts here chronicling the challenges has been helpful to anyone sitting on the contactless fence, and if you have any questions hit me up either here or on twitter using the #GemaltoNFC hashtag. The previous four days has been a rollercoaster ride. There has been bright moments when I saw nothing but a bright contactless future, and there are dark times when I thought it was dead.  Day five was no different. For once the day started not with an NFC related disaster but my own stupidity. For probably the second time in my entire life, I forgot my wallet. Not only did I not have my debit card, I also did not have my Oystercard and cash! I did have some loose change in my pocket, but these weren't enough to last a whole day. I have gone through an entire day purely on contactless on Tuesday , but this was the first day I would not have a backup. I have to rely purely on the Samsung Galaxy S III...

As a former now almost Londoner, I can categorily state that the best way to see London is through the local river bus service, the Thames Clipper. It is also my favourite method of traveling across London. The Thames Clipper operates between Embankment Pier and Woolwich Arsenal Pier, so if you live or work near one of the piers serviced on this route - I truly envy you. It would be a dream to move into a home just by the Thames. The Thames Clipper is the only commuter service in Britain (that I know of) which offers commuters and tourists alike the ability to pay as you go via contactless payment. This is in addition to accepting contactless Oyster card and regular plastic payments just like on the regular Tube, Overground and London bus services. These contactless payments are only acceptable on-board the boats. Nobody at the ticket booths are equipped with the equipments necessary to process contactless payment. The 'I am on a boat' moment Well the important thing is you co...

I am so used to starting these NFC blog posts with the first fail of the day so for once I thought I would I would get right to the point. The first NFC fail today comes courtesy of Starbucks, the multi-national behemoth and purveyor of all things wrong with the multi-chain coffee industry. Starbucks has recently been in our headlines for all the wrong reasons , but that's not the purpose of this post. A quick search reveals that they have been deploying two new form of payments - Square in USA and NFC in the UK . Personally I do not understand the significance of deploying Square at their stores as they already have dedicated payment terminals, and magnetic cards are inherently insecure, but that's just me. Then again I am not American, and I am digressing a bit here again. Anyway, after ordering a drink so complex there are actually guides  online that teaches you how to do it , I attempted the pay. The store I visited does not in fact accept contactless ...

Day Three: London's Burning It is day three of my Gemalto Contactless Challenge, and I have finally made up some lost ground and caught up  with Ewan: Ewan: 76 points Me: 101 points My first NFC fail of the day comes courtesy of YO! Sushi. You may remember me blogging about them on day one where I attempted to buy lunch from their branch at St Pancras International. Giving them another chance, I visited the branch just opposite of St Paul's Cathedral. This branch is listed on Barclaycard's list of venues that accept contactless payment. Speaking with the manager, it appears that contactless payment was once deployed at the branch but it stopped working after a software upgrade. Further, it was never a popular method of payment as most customers spend more than the £20 cap would allow. Fair enough, I have always thought the £20 limit was a bit too stingy. While I agree that a limit should be imposed as a security measure, £20 is just far too low. £40-50 would have been perf...

I woke up to day two of the Gemalto Contactless Challenge, confident enough to start taking names. Okay, not really, but I was much more prepared than yesterday . Today my main task is to go the entire day only on contactless, meaning I will only be relying on the Gemalto issued Samsung Galaxy S3 for my breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and whatever else I require. Ewan was ahead and points were at stake. No more screw ups - I just have to get it right today! Well no. The morning started with my quest to send Gemalto a postcard. I visited the Post Office on Farringdon Road and I immediately recognise the NFC card readers they have installed on the counters. Unfortunately for me and Gemalto, it appears that the postcards on display (and in fact every physical items sold in the store), can only be paid at the shop counter which is managed separately from the Post Office. This counter would only accept chip & pin, with a minimum of £5 spend. And the other Post Office in nearby Moorgat...

Today I visited the Museum of London as part of the Gemalto Contactless Challenge to complete the 'Become a Museum of London expert' challenge. Our task here is to use NFC to learn about the exhibits. Believe it or not, despite living in or around London for close to a decade, I have not once visited it, so for me this visit is more than just testing out the NFC tags dotted around the museum. It is about learning more about the history of my home, this amazing city Londontown. Every significant event that ever transpired in London, from prehistoric times before Londinium was even founded by the Romans to the Blitz of World War II to last year's Occupy London movement, are recorded here. It was a fascinating visit. For educational purposes only The Museum of London is the first museum in London which integrates their exhibits with NFC tags. These tags were donated by Nokia and allows users with NFC enabled smartphones to learn more about the exhibits. Not all exhibits conta...

Today is the first day of my Gemalto Contactless Challenge and I almost did not go contactless. It isn't so much as not wanting to go contactless, but being prevented to do so. Nevertheless, after a rocky start, I was soon swiping like a pro. My typical day begins at St Albans. This is where I live. The main railway station is manned by First Capital Connect, also known as one of the worst railway network in Britain, but never mind that. Here, anyone who doesn't own a season ticket but wishes to go into London has to buy their tickets from either the few self service machines dotted around, which does not accept contactless payment yet. Mind you, with the daily peak time travelcard costing more than £20 so you wouldn't be able to pay using contactless anyway. So I went to the counter and asked the gentleman behind if they accept contactless payment. Blank stares. Uhm, wireless payment, NFC etc.? What, he quipped? Finally, I whipped out the phone and waved it around the paym...