NFC

The owner of the Qwikster Twitter handle is banking on selling it to Netflix, Verizon unveils a $99 4G LTE capable smartphone, and Google Wallet finally launches with support only on Sprint's Nexus S 4G phone so far.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Despite a globe-spanning, bruising legal battle with Samsung, Apple has little choice but to keep getting key parts for its iPhone from the electronics maker, according to sources and a news report.

Those key parts include the iPhone 5's expected main processor, the A5, as well as system memory and flash memory--components that together make up the electronic core.

Sources who track the chip industry say that Apple must stick with Samsung for the time being. Some rumors had claimed that Apple would switch to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for a so-called "shrink" (smaller version) of the A5 for the iPhone 5.

That's simply not doable, sources tell CNET. TSMC has not perfected the advanced manufacturing processes needed to make an A5 for the iPhone and, maybe more importantly, it's prohibitively difficult to jump to a different manufacturer for the same chip design. … Read more

The pieces appear to be falling into place for the launch of Google Wallet today.

Last night, social-media blog TechCrunch posted an image purporting to be from Google Wallet partners, showing documentation on the service. That documentation says that "Google Wallet is launching September 19, 2011."

Then this morning, another blog, GigaOm, posted an image, taken by one of its reporters at a coffee shop in San Francisco, of a Google Wallet payment reader. The reader provides directions on it, saying users must "tap" their smartphone against the device in order to "pay by smartphone.&… Read more

It looks like life will get harder for people who live in Faraday cages to escape electromagnetic emissions, because wireless data-transfer technologies are booming in growth, according to a study released today.

Shipments of Bluetooth-equipped devices should double between 2011 and 2015, and Wi-Fi is growing fast as well even if it's not built into as many electronics products today. But the real explosion comes from NFC, or near-field communications, analyst firm IMS Research said today.

"The number of NFC-enabled mobile handset shipments is projected to increase from 40 million in 2011 to over 700 million in 2016,&… Read more

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T- Mobile USA plan to invest an additional $100 million into their mobile payment joint venture, Isis, to help get the project off the ground more quickly, Bloomberg reported Monday.

According to Bloomberg's unnamed sources familiar with the joint venture, the investment is contingent on whether Isis, which was developed to turn cell phones into payment devices, could sign up additional banks and merchants.

A spokesman for Isis declined to comment on the rumors.

The joint venture, formed in November, has been somewhat slow to get off the ground. But the additional funding … Read more

The folks at Android Police have taken the wrapper off Google's Ice Cream Sandwich.

The tech news site yesterday revealed several new details and a couple of screenshots of the upcoming edition of Android.

Showing Ice Cream Sandwich running on a Nexus S, the screenshots seen here are a bit dark but do point to changes in the user interface. As noted by Android Police, blue seems to be the theme color of the new OS, while the notification bar has gone through a major revamp.

Other screenshots published by tech site RootzWiki, as seen here, also show several … Read more

Visa is planning to roll out dual-mode chips in its infrastructure in an effort to step up mobile payment adoption. Meanwhile, it's deploying a mix of carrots and sticks to get merchants on board.

Specifically, Visa is aiming to prepare payment infrastructure for NFC (near-field communication) mobile payments. Google has pushed NFC payments, and other mobile phone players are aiming to turn your smartphone into a wallet. Visa will support EMV and NFC. EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, is a global standard for credit and debit payment cards. EMV has been popular abroad, but lags in … Read more

Parking technology has finally caught up to our on-the-go culture: pay without paying attention. Researchers have built a device that does for parking lots what radio transponders do for highway tolls. You park, it keeps track.

The near field communications (NFC) system, dubbed Viatag, consists of 0.5 inch by 4-inch RFID windshield tags, parking lot transceivers that read tags, and a central database. The windshield tag signals the parking transceiver as you're entering and exiting a parking lot. A central database tallies your time in the lot and debits your account accordingly.

The tag is unobtrusive compared with bulky highway toll transponders. This is because it's a passive RFID tag--no batteries. Instead it draws power through the air--from radio waves sent by the transceivers.… Read more

The mobile payments universe is expanding at a terrific rate, but the key players are still working their angles to convert amorphous opportunity into real, viable services that retail-hungry Americans will trust and use.

The companies are getting closer every day, as corporate heavy hitters bring weight, money, and experience to nimble start-ups through a web of partnerships. Traditional credit card brands, online payment companies, carriers, and smartphone manufacturers are all jumping into the game in various ways by joining to form coalitions, buying up tiny mobile payment start-ups, and attacking rivals' credibility by going straight for the panic button … Read more