Newswatch: Asia.(briefs)

SONY AND NXP TO DEVELOP NEW NFC CHIP

NXP Semiconductors and Sony Corp., two chip suppliers that jointly developed the wireless technology Near Field Communication, announced last month plans to design an NFC chip that will enable consumers to pay with a tap of their cell phones in many countries. The "secure" chip will come preloaded with the two protocols the companies control and that are widely used in mass transit systems that offer contactless cards, NXP's Mifare and Sony's FeliCa. Whereas today a Japanese consumer with a FeliCa card would not be able to use it in a European or U.S. transit or access control system based on Mifare, a card with the new chip …