Caring the contactless way – Barclays’ Busker

We love the Brits for caring the contactless way!

LONDON.

Amongst the many things we admire about the British is their determination when it comes to fundraising. Schools, Universities, families – everybody gets involved in raising money for a good cause. Unforgettable how Princess Beatrice – Fergie’s daughter for those of you who don’t read tabloids – finished the London Marathon in April wearing a fluorescent-green tutu! The cause? Children in Crisis. During the race, her team was overtaken by Richard Branson – dressed as a human caterpillar….I once got sponsored just to keep shtum for a day – money well spent, as I was told!

Well, in our League City of London caring can now be done the contactless way: On August 26th, busker Peter Buffery took to London’s Southbank to serenade passers-by and raise funds for Help a London Child. Why is this relevant? You guessed it: He wasn’t  asking for loose change, in fact he was a completely cashless busker.  Instead he accepted cards!

His specially designed guitar is fully equipped with contactless technology, so listeners could make a donation by holding pre-paid contactless cards, provided by Barclays and Barclaycard, over the head of the guitar.

Barclays and Barclaycard had loaded each contactless card with £5 and aimed to raise £2,500.

Contactless Cities says: Nice fundraising and marketing initiative!

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Scottish showcase for contactless technology

Image via Wikipedia

The Scottish capital’s strong identity makes it the perfect location to showcase contactless and demonstrate the technology’s capabilities.

In what was considered a pioneering move in the UK back in 2006, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and MasterCard began trialling contactless debit cards at the bank’s head office campus in Gogarburn, near Edinburgh, to test convenience as well as user and retailer acceptance.

This was an ideal location since it contained a range of outlets where the cards could be used and represented a microcosm of the ‘real shopping world’. A small number of retailers took part in the trial including Starbucks, Tesco Express, a hair salon and a canteen. Around a third of the campus’ 3,000 staff applied for the specially adapted Maestro card, which could be used during the year-long trial.

RBS was also the first bank in the UK to test out phone debit payments using Maestro PayPass. The scheme, known as Tap and Go, ran in Edinburgh during 2007 and used Nokia handsets.

Edinburgh has proved a good testing ground for the bank, which has now rolled out contactless cards to customers in London following its successful trials in the city.

And it looks like it could become the venue for even more contactless rollouts, with the technology set to be tested with season ticket holders on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line.

Click here for our League Score Table on Edinburgh.

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Sorry, has anyone seen an oversized white carrier bag?

Ok, so this bag isn't particularly mobile. But you can't miss it, either!

On the lookout for this mighty  symbol of mobile shopping – the symbol of SITGES 2010  - we are off to this lovely town near Barcelona – cameras in tow. We have been waiting for this for some time, but, quite understandably, participating merchants were not hugely excited at the thought of letting us into their shops during the highest holiday season. But now, as the nicely tanned Krauts and Brits are leaving the Catalan coast, we are moving in. All booked up in a lovely place in the centre of town (run by Michel and Michel – cute, isn’t it?) – and with a full schedule prepared, we will get to talk to the Operators, Banks and merchants involved in the NFC trial. September 13th – 15th we will capture all there is to see about this latest NFC trial thanks to VISA  and bring it to a screen near you. This Contactless Intelligence production will also be shown here at Cities, so stay tuned or follow us on Twitter to find out more about our camera team’s adventures in Spain.

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• Pay With Your Phone: BofA, Visa Begin Testing Mobile Payments (nytimes.com)

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Dublin: Craic and Contactless

Image via Wikipedia

Wherever you are in the world, you’ll always find an Irish pub selling Guinness with a customer propping up the bar regaling you with stories about O’Connell Street. But will contactless technology eventually become part of the Dublin myth? Only in the minds of industry insiders who’ve had a little too much of the black stuff. But the city is certainly embracing the technology and it’s a great place to visit, enjoy the craic and witness the technology in action.

Its public transport system is set to use a single pre-paid contactless card for travel on all buses, trains, trams and coaches in the city. Initially, staff are using the technology on a few select services before it is expanded for use by a small number of customers. It will then go live on services provided by transport operators across Dublin. The contactless card is part of Ireland’s Transport 21 project, which aims to deliver world-class transport to citizens by 2015. However, the full rollout of the card has been delayed until the end of 2011, so the 2015 target may also have to be pushed back slightly.

The technology is also gaining traction in the banking/payments sector.  The staff canteen at Ulster Bank’s Dublin office was the location for what was heralded as Ireland’s first contactless card payment scheme in February 2010. Around the same time, the head of Visa UK & Ireland underlined the firm’s commitment to the technology when he briefed the heads of Irish banks about its potential.

Click here for our League Score Table on Dublin

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• Visa Readies to Take on Rising Competition in Payment Biz (fool.com)

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Amsterdam backed by Japan when it pioneered NFC…

Oh look - it's a 2006 Nokia NFC phone...

The Dutch soccer team may not have lived up to their country’s expectations when they lost Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final in South Africa, but back home in Amsterdam the city knows how to take the ball and run with it when it comes to contactless.

Although the Netherlands’ capital city is not one of Europe’s major adopters of contactless, it has certainly shown a strong interest in the future of the technology.

Back in 2006, Japanese credit card giant JCB launched Mobile J/Speedy, an NFC payment pilot which enabled 100 of its cardholders to use a Nokia phone equipped with an NFC chip from NXP to make payments at retail outlets in and around the city’s World Trade Center. Participants could pay at selected PaySquare merchants by holding the phone to ViVOtech’s contactless NFC readers, which were attached to CCV’s payment terminals. Cell phone network operator KPN installed the application and personalized the phones. The pilot’s first transaction was made at Japanese restaurant Sushi Time.

At the time of the launch, JCB claimed the Amsterdam trial was Europe’s first contactless international credit payment scheme using a cell phone with an NFC chip.

The firm carried out a further pilot of its J/Speedy service in 2008, again with a small number of customers using Nokia NFC handsets.

Contactless technology is also being embraced by public transport operators in the capital and throughout the rest of the country. Trans Link Systems was established by the five largest Dutch public transport companies – Dutch Rail NS, bus company Connexxion and the municipal transport companies RET from Rotterdam, HTM from The Hague and Amsterdam’s GVB –  to implement a single payment system.

The technology is also in action for international travel at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where it is being used for frequent traveler schemes on airlines such as Continental (IP@SS for people traveling between Newark, US, and Schiphol) and Air France (frequent flyer program between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol). In addition to improving passenger flow through the city’s airport, these contactless cards could also be used for applications such as car parking and car hire.

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