Card Technology articles from May 2007

Card Technology archives from May 2007

A New Editor In Town: We Will continue to tell you what is really happening in the industry and what it means to you.
May 1, 2007... This is the place where I'm supposed to thank my predecessor, Don Davis, for his dedication and steady hand in guiding Card Technology these past eight years; then pledge, as the new chief editor, to continue providing you the best coverage in...

Issuers Buy More High-Security Banking Smart Cards: The percentage of EMV banking cards supporting advanced-level authentication more than doubled in the fourth quarter.
May 1, 2007... For the past several years, the vast majority of EMV banking cards banks have ordered have complied with the cheapest option within the global standard. That option, called static data authentication, SDA, while much more secure than...

Newswatch: Europe.
May 1, 2007... MCDONALD'S TO ACCEPT CONTACTLESS PAYMENT IN SWISS TRIAL McDonald's restaurants in three cities in Switzerland plan to participate in a trial of contactless credit this summer, accepting cards with MasterCard Worldwide's PayPass application....

More U.S. States Oppose Federal Real ID Act.
May 1, 2007... A growing number of U.S. states are resisting what has been dubbed the "Real ID Act," a federal government mandate to make their driver's licenses less susceptible to counterfeiting. By the end of April, Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire...

Newswatch: Europe.
May 1, 2007... HANDHELD READER MAKER XIRING PREDICTS HIGHER SALES France-based Gemalto has sold its 17% stake in smart card reader maker Xiring of France, eliminating what the companies called a potential conflict of interest following Gemalto's creation...

Newswatch: Asia.
May 1, 2007... MORE BANKS IN MALAYSIA TO ISSUE CONTACTLESS CARDS Two banks doing business in Malaysia will issue contactless cards from competing schemes, it was announced last month. Kuala Lumpur-based RHB Bank launched the "Travel Money" MasterCard...

First Data Owners To Continue European Foray.
May 1, 2007... Private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in April said it would buy giant U.S.-based payment processor First Data for $29 billion. This planned acquisition comes at a time when First Data is trying to expand in Europe, and when countries...

Smart Card Standard Incorporates GlobalPlatform Specification.
May 1, 2007... The international committee that sets standards for contact smart cards has added a new provision governing how new applications are added to smart cards, incorporating technology from the GlobalPlatform industry group. The new provision,...

Newswatch: Americas.
May 1, 2007... MOBILE PAYMENTS TO EXCEED $6.9 BILLION BY 2011, REPORT PREDICTS By 2011, the volume of payments initiated by mobile phones will exceed $6.9 billion, and mobile-banking fee revenues may surpass $1 billion, predicts a Mercator Advisory Group...

Research Firm Reduces NFC Projections.
May 1, 2007... U.s.-based ABI Research has again lowered its projection for NFC phones, to 20% of global handset shipments by 2012, citing uncertainty among mobile network operators of the business case. The latest projection, of 292 million handsets...

Calendar.(Calendar)
May 1, 2007... May 06-07 Cardex 2007 - Cairo Organized by Egytec For more information, contact Ms. Snjezana Poljanec (International Sales Director) at: Telephone: +44 1628 634 761 E-mail: spoljanecegytec.com Web site:...

Can Web-Server Card Brighten A Drab SIM?: Quick Read: With an ever-growing share of subscribers owning multimedia phones, the old text-based SIM toolkit menu is decidedly bland. But will network operators buy the new "Web-server" SIMs vendors are pushing?
May 1, 2007... In the increasingly colorful world of multimedia mobile phones and networks, the SIM card runs black and white. SIMs in most GSM networks continue to store a menu of SIM toolkit services, allowing subscribers to get news, sports and weather...

A Web-based SIM.(subscriber identity module)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... SIM vendors hope to liven up their drab SIM toolkit menus with cards that can read HTML and other Web-based code using the phone browser. Web-server card Comments How It Works: Card stores HTML pages and other small multimedia...

Vendors Try To Plug Into Consumer Market With USB Tokens: Quick Read: Can USB tokens replace smart cards for securing Web shopping and banking? While such big vendors as Gemalto and SanDisk are after the market, it won't be an easy sell. But at least one big Web company, online-payment provider PayPal, is interested.
May 1, 2007... Vendors are betting consumers, Web merchants and other e-commerce players are getting fed up with the growing security threat to shopping and banking online. But the vendors, led by France-based Gemalto, are casting aside the idea of...

For VeriFone's Rivals: The Heat Is On: Quick Read: VeriFone's acquisition of Lipman made it the world's largest supplier of payment terminals, and its $3 billion stock market value gives it the currency to extend its lead. Rivals are likely to bulk up through mergers and acquisitions as they try to get big enough, and profitable enough, to slow VeriFone's momentum.
May 1, 2007... There is nothing an investor likes better than a company that is consistently profitable and has strong prospects for growth. That combination has helped VeriFone Holdings, which was bought by private investors for $50 million in 2001, achieve...

Leading Vendors Of Payment Terminals.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Company/Home country Unit sales 2006 2005 VeriFone/USA** 2,500,000* 1,800,000* Ingenico/France 2,200,000 1,900,000* Hypercom/USA ...

Battle Of the Brands: Quick Read: The international card organizations are fighting for a bigger share of the trillions of dollars worth of purchases consumers make every year in cash. They are keen to get it using contactless payment. An exclusive look at the global battlefields.
May 1, 2007... About the only thing Visa International and MasterCard Worldwide could agree on for their contactless readers in the United Kingdom was that the lights would be green. But they differed on how the LEDs would flash when a consumer's card...

Battleground: North America.
May 1, 2007... SCHEME: CONTACTLESS: CARDS MERCHANT: LOCATIONS: MOBILE PAYMENT: TRANSIT TICKETING: NOTES Visa (Visa Contactless): U.S 5.7 million: U.S. 30,000: * U.S. Joined with Chase, Cingular Wireless and Atlanta stadium operator in first major NFC...

Battleground: Asia-Pacific.
May 1, 2007... SCHEME: CONTACTLESS: CARDS MERCHANT: LOCATIONS: MOBILE PAYMENT: TRANSIT TICKETING: NOTES Visa (Visa Wave): Taiwan 990,000, Malaysia 280,000, Japan 100,000 (In phones), S. Korea N/A: Taiwan 1,700, Malaysia 2,500 Japan (mobile) 4,500, S....

Battleground: Europe.
May 1, 2007... SCHEME: CONTACTLESS: CARDS MERCHANT: LOCATIONS: MOBILE PAYMENT: TRANSIT TICKETING: NOTES Visa (Visa Contactless): None: None: * France Participating in project to develop interoperable payment application, with pilot planned for next...

Bulking Up Security Toward A Better EMV Card.
May 1, 2007... Most EMV banking smart cards sport rather low-end security and proprietary software. But a more clone-resistant variety of EMV card-packing dynamic data authentication-finally seems to be gaining ground in the market, according to the...