Card Technology articles from January 2006

Card Technology archives from January 2006

Mega-Memory Cards And Mergers.
January 1, 2006... The first ever mega-memory SIM cards were scheduled to hit the street in Paris Nov. 24, so I headed out that day to the nearest France Telecom/Orange shop-just in case the limited edition SIM sold out quickly. I needn't have hurried. ...

For Merger Hopefuls, Obstacles Become Assets.
January 1, 2006... If you're the CEO of a European smart card vendor, you may stay awake nights worrying about stiff price competition and the emergence of new Asian competitors. But if you're a lawyer representing two big smart card companies trying to merge,...

Visa Invests In Inside Contactless.
January 1, 2006... Three firms, including Visa International, will invest a total of 9 million euros in Inside Contactless, a French designer of smart card chips that aims to expand its reach in the contactless payment sector. Visa's partners in the deal,...

Finland, Netherlands Prepare for e-Passport Issuance.
January 1, 2006... Finland and the Netherlands will begin issuing electronic passports in 2006, says Datacard Group, supplier of the personalization equipment to be used for both projects. As many as 1 million electronic passports in Finland and 3 million in the...

Carte Bleue Launches Visa Gift Card in France.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Carte Bleue, the association of Visa issuers in France, has introduced a chip-based, prepaid Visa gift card in cooperation with Axalto, a France-based smart card maker. The card is the first chip-based prepaid card in France to comply with EMV,...

EMV Cards to Be Issued in China.(Europay, Mastercard and Visa )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... One of the largest banks in China will issue MasterCard-and Visa-branded chip cards that comply with EMV, the global payment standard for smart cards. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will issue the Peony MasterCard, which can handle...

NFC Makes Its U.S. Debut In Atlanta.(Near Field Communication)
January 1, 2006... A trial of Near Field Communication technology launched last month in the United States, following ongoing trials in France and Germany. With NFC, consumers can use mobile phones as if they were contactless credit cards to make purchases,...

People on the Move.
January 1, 2006... Clear2Pay SA, a Belgium-based developer of payment software, is expanding its sales force in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the company says. Marc Terry has been named the London-based managing director and vice president for the region....

Mastercard Sets Canadian EMV Conversion Deadline of 2010.(Europay, Mastercard and Visa )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... MasterCard Canada says 12 MasterCard issuers could begin to issue smart cards as soon as 2007, William Giles, vice president of distributed product management at MasterCard, and the organization's chip expert, tells Card Technology. The new...

U.S. Firms Plan Credit Card With "Fast Pass" Feature.
January 1, 2006... Business travelers fly and they carry credit cards. Last month a consortium of U.S. firms announced plans to combine a credit card with a program that would enable cardholders to pass quickly through airport security checkpoints. "Credit...

Calendar.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
January 1, 2006... February 13-17: RSA Conference 2006 - San Jose, California Organized by RSA For more information, contact Wingate Studios: Telephone: +1-801-932-1711 Fax: + 1-801-932-1713 Web site: www.rsaconference.com February...

More Vendors Pitch Mega-Memory SIM Cards.(Subscriber Identity Module )
January 1, 2006... For French mobile network operator Orange, the decision to launch the first commercial pilot of mega-memory SIM cards was not a difficult one, say current and former Orange executives familiar with the decision. Orange Group's vice...

Health ID Cards: Breaking Down The Political and Technical Barriers.(identification)
January 1, 2006... Rising health care costs and reams of paperwork are hallmarks of health insurance systems around the world. But some nations see the smart card as one way to try to hold back rising costs, while reducing paperwork, cutting fraud and making it...

US Hospital To Launch Ambitious Smart Card ID.(identification)
January 1, 2006... A New York hospital will begin issuing smart cards to patients by the middle of 2006, in what the vendor, Siemens Communications, is calling the largest patient smart card ID program in the United States. As many as 100,000 of the...

Health Identification Smart Cards.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
January 1, 2006... (part 1 of 2) COUNTRY CARD NUMBER OF CARDS INSURED /PROFESSIONALS Austria e-card 8 million/12,000 Belgium Social Identity 9 million...

Mobile Payment Players Jostle For Position In A Budding Japanese Market.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2006... Japanese consumers use credit sparingly-making more than 90% of their purchases in cash. Soon, however, mobile network operators and credit card companies promise consumers will be able to wield their ubiquitous mobile phones to charge...

A Grand Vision or Grand Illusion?
January 1, 2006... QUICK READ According to the plan, citizens of Europe and beyond will be able to file their taxes, make health claims, cast ballots and conduct nearly all their other business with the government-both domestically and internationally-using...

Smart Cards and e-Government Around the World: A Slow Start.
January 1, 2006... Belgium Services ranging from filing taxes to downloading satellite photos of cardholder neighborhoods to protecting Internet chatting for children have been held back in part by lack of card readers. Estonia The Baltic state's...

King Kong Rising?: How big is this gorilla?(Gemalto)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... The planned merger of the industry's two largest smart card vendors, Gemplus International and Axalto, would create a giant that in 2005 would have controlled about half of global supply. The proposed deal to form "Gemalto" still must past...