Card Technology articles from December 2005

Card Technology archives from December 2005

Why This Time Is Different.(easy to swipe)
December 1, 2005... Among the hottest topics at last month's Cartes show in Paris was contactless payments, the technology that lets consumers pay by tapping a reader with a payment card, keyfob, mobile phone, or anything else that can carry a chip. And, as our...

Gemplus-Axalto Merger Would Create Industry Goliath.(Gemplus International and Axalto Merger)
December 1, 2005... In an announcement that sent a jolt through the smart card industry, its top two vendors, Gemplus International and Axalto, announced Dec. 7 they plan to merge, creating an industry giant that would control half of global supply. The two...

EMV Makes Headway In France.(Europay, Mastercard and Visa )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... About 40% of bank card transactions in France now comply with the international EMV standard, says Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, the country's major payment card association. The association says the move to EMV is about 70% complete,...

Flash Memory Supplier Buys SIM Vendor.(M-Systems purchase Microelectronica Espanola )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Israel-based M-Systems announced last month that it had purchased Spanish SIM card manufacturer Microelectronica Espanola for $40 million in cash. M-Systems seeks to open a direct sales channel to mobile network operators for its "MegaSIM"...

Traveler Cards Cleared For U.S. Takeoff.
December 1, 2005... How many business travelers would like a card that would let them use fast lanes at airport security checkpoints? Probably all of them. Those frequent flyers who use U.S. airports may soon be able to obtain just such a card, in a program that...

MasterCard Shares Ownership In Multos.(Multos)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... MasterCard International last month completed the previously announced transfer of its ownership of the Multos multiapplication smart card operating system to a new company that was not immediately named. U.S.-based MasterCard will own 20% of...

Koreans Pay Tolls With Chip Cards.(Korea Highway Corp)(smart cards issued to motorists)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The Korea Highway Corp. has issued 300,000 smart cards for paying expressway tolls and has ordered another 300,000, says Sanguk Ha, a manager with South Korea-based Hismartech, which developed the card software. The "Hi-pass" cards allow...

Calendar.(Calendar)(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... JANUARY 18-20: OMNICARD 2006 - BERLIN Organized by inTIME berlin For more information, contact inTIME berlin at: Telephone: +49 (0) 30 80 90 58 14 Fax: +49 (0) 30 80 90 58 15 Web site: www.omnicard.de JANUARY...

2006 Strong Prospects Big Tests.
December 1, 2005... QUICK READ Global sales of SIM cards for mobile phones continued to grow in 2005, and the coming year likely will bring continued gains, especially in such regions as the Americas and parts of Asia. China still buys about one out of every...

Going Mobile With Transit Ticketing.
December 1, 2005... Bouygues Telecom is the No. 3 mobile network operator in an increasingly competitive French mobile market. So it is keen to find reasons for subscribers to remain loyal. With the budding craze over contactless payment and ticketing...

Passport Test Indicates Progress Toward Interoperability.
December 1, 2005... IN BRIEF Macedonia To Issue Chip-Based Passports: Germany-based Giesecke & Devrient announced last month that it had won a 23.5 million euro contract to supply 1.5 million electronic passports, 1.8 million identity cards and 500,000...

Saving Europe's Electronic Purses.
December 1, 2005... Born a decade ago as a way for consumers to make low-value purchases without cash, Europe's electronic purse cards are changing. No longer do backers see the e-purse primarily as a cash replacement in retail stores, a function that found...

E-purses in Europe.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... (part 1 of 3) Country E-purse Cards Transactions 2004 Belgium Proton 10.1 million 107 million France Moneo 40 million 57 million Germany ...

The New Way to Pay: Coming Soon to a Store Near You: Contactless Payments.
December 1, 2005... QUICK READ Faster than anyone imagined, contactless payment is taking off in the United States, with major initiatives also rolling out in Asia and pilots planned for Europe. Vendors are racing to make the technology rollout-ready, while...

Contactless Payment Around the World.
December 1, 2005... NORTH AMERICA UNITED STATES U.S. Issuers Expects to issue 5 million "blink" credit cards by year's end. Uses both MasterCard and Visa brands. JP Morgan Chase Reissuing several million Blue credit cards with ExpressPay...

Questions & Answers: Leading industry product and services providers discuss contactless strategies and best practices.
December 1, 2005... Q: How will issuing a contactless debit or credit card help issuers generate new revenue streams from current customers? Lawrence Swales, Panasonic Industrial Company: Today's consumer is all about speed and convenience and are often are...

Growth Curves: SIM cards lead the way.(Subscriber Identity Module)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Smart card shipments are expected to top 1.8 billion this year, more than three times the estimated volume in 1999. A growing percentage of those shipments are subscriber identity module cards for mobile phones-projected at 72% of shipments...