NYC Subways Get NFC Equipped Fare Systems Starting Late 2018

The New York City transit payment system is about to be to modernized. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is green lit a hefty $573 million contract that will install NFC-equipped fare systems across NYC. The plan should start installing readers in 600 buses and 500 subway turnstiles starting in late 2018, so you may tap your phone or card sooner than you might have thought with a 2021 rollout. The rollout won't reach every corner of the city (plus Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains) until late 2020. MetroCards will continue to work through 2023, so don't worry about rushing to replace your phone or bank cards. The new system shouldn't be picky about payment types, either, so you can expect Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay among others.

New York City's MTA To Debut Smartphone Based Payments By 2018

The MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) of New York issued a public bid on Wednesday, asking for proposals for a new contactless ticketing system to replace the MetroCard, potentially allow iPhone users to pay for public transit on their smartphone. Starting in June, the MTA will begin accepting proposals for the "New Fare Payment System" that will replace the MetroCard for both subway and bus operations. The authority's new system will rely on both smart cards and mobile devices, like the iPhone. The MTA hopes to have the new payment system roll out by mid-2018, first debuting on the Select Bus Service, according to ABC 7. Apple's latest mobile devices, the iPhone 6, 6s and iPhone SE, feature NFC support for Apple Pay at retail. The company is also a member of the NFC Forum, which is working to bring contactless payments to U.S. public transit, potentially signaling that Apple Pay could be opened up to support the likes of the new system the MTA plans to implement. While Apple has not yet opened up NFC in the iPhone and Apple Watch to third-party developers, the company is said to have quietly shown interest in enabling features like transit payments and secure building access. Could New Yorkers so be able to use Apple Pay to ride transit ? Only time will tell. What do you think of using Apple Pay to ride transit ? 

Pokken Tournament Trademark Shows NFC Support

The Pokemon Company has filed a trademark for Pokken Tournament in Europe and the trademark description shows that the game may feature NFC support. The trademark mentions "near field communication (NFC) technology enabled devices, listing key chain tags, key chains, key fobs, key tags, key rings and key holders, and figurines. Could amiibo support be coming to Pokken Tournament ? Could the game be coming to the Wii U or NX ? We’ll just have to wait to hear an official announcement from Nintendo.

UPDATE - 8/21/15 - Nintendo and Bandai Namco have announced that Pokken Tournament Will be coming to the Wii U in Spring of 2016. you can read more about that here. 

Apple Pay Coming To The UK On July 14th

Looks like Apple is planning to expand its Apple Pay mobile payments service in the United Kingdom on July 14th. Apple has begun enabling its sale systems in England based stores to take NFC payments and has been preparing materials to promote the Apple Pay launch in stores. Announced back in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference, the U.K.’s Apple Pay launch will mark Apple’s first expansion of the service outside of the United States. Like in the U.S., a PIN won’t be required for usage, but the launch will include a £20 cap per transaction, as also noted on the above memo sent to us and posted across the web. However, a source tells us that U.K. systems will be updated in the fall to process higher values. Apple is also currently working on bringing the service to Canada later this year as well as China and South Korea sometime soon. 

Knock Off Amiibo’s Are Starting To Appear Online

As more and more Amiibo’s are being releases, certain Amiibo’s are reportedly showing differences between how they look, and how they actually should look. Reports of the counterfeit Mario, Link, Samus and Pikachu Amiibo have surfaced on Info Amiibo. According to the site, the knock off items have appeared in online stores, as well as some Brazilian marketplaces. The knock off Amiibo’s are merely cosmetic, and lack the NFC chip to function like Nintendo's Amiibo. As for the appearance and materials of the counterfeit versions, there are many give aways to see that they are fake. Link's face is distorted, Pikachu's arms are completely fused to his body, Samus' head is far smaller than it should be, and Mario's overalls are made of a different texture and the fireball is not as transparent. The packaging of the knock offs is also different than the Amiibo’s released by Nintendo. Have a look for yourself with the pictures in this article.

Nintendo Reveals The Top Selling Amiibo’s

During today's investor briefing, Nintendo revealed which characters have been the best selling in its popular Amiibo lineup. While Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and Marth were perhaps the most sought after, it was Link, Mario, and Pikachu who sold the most units in North America. Link has also been the most popular Amiibo in Japan and Europe, while Mario holds the number 1 spot  in Australia. According to Nintendo, the United States and Canada have made up 63% of all Amiibo sales. You can check out the full top 10 below.

Apple Pay Being Added To JetBlue Flights

JetBlue is adding Apple Pay on select flights between New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport along with airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles starting next week. By June, 3,500 flight attendants will be able to accept mobile payments using new iPad minis in NFC-compatible cases on all JetBlue flights. The cases will also accept traditional credit and debit cards if you don’t have an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. Later this year, JetBlue is also integrating Apple Pay into its own mobile app so passengers can make purchases, and the company said customers won’t need to purchase Wi-Fi as part of their transactions. What do you think of JetBlue adding Apple Pay? Would you use Apple Pay on a plane ?

If A Retailer Use CurrentC They Can’t Use Apple Pay

Retailers who decide to use the CurrentC mobile payment system must do so exclusively, dropping access any NFC payment system like Apple Pay. The Merchant Customer Exchange CEO Dekkers Davidson says retailers "make their own decisions" on selecting CurrentC, and any retailers who choose to back out from the service will not be fined. "When merchants choose to work with MCX, they choose to do so exclusively and we're proud of the long list of merchants who have partnered with us,". Its also reported that retailers cannot accept rival payment systems like Apple Pay and breaking MCX contracts result in steep fines. "Importantly, if a merchant decides to stop working with MCX, there are no fines,". Recently, Rite Aid and CVS cut off access to NFC enabled payment services like Apple Pay and Google wallet. Both companies are part of MCX, and will use the CurrentC payment system. Other outlets joining MCX include Best Buy, Target and Walmart. For those who don't know CurrentC is a mobile app that processes payments at stores using either QR codes or numeric codes. The app will integrate gift cards, coupons and personal checking accounts.

iOS 8.1 Could Launch On October 20th Including Apple Pay

 iOS 8.1 beta 1 seeded to developers this week contained clues that Apple Pay could be released soon, and according to a report from Bank Innovation, we won’t have to wait much longer to replace our wallets with the new mobile payments solution, the finishing touches are still being made to the security features in Apple Pay. Based on many sources close to Apple, Bank Innovation has learned that iOS 8.1 will include Apple Pay, and the current expected timetable for the public release is schedule for October 20. iOS 8.1 beta 1 contained Apple Pay settings as well as the reveal that Apple Pay could also come to the iPad, only it would be used to purchase items online.