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Netribe is a platform, not a phone, says Sagem Wireless

Sarah Clark — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:41:09 +0000

The new Sagem Netribe which we reported on earlier this week is not a specific phone, Sagem Wireless has now told NFC World. Rather, says the company, it is "an Android platform on which we can implement NFC or any other technology."

More details as soon as we have them...

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Sagem Wireless unveils NFC-enabled Android phone

Sarah Clark — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:56:20 +0000

UPDATED The Netribe is a touchscreen Android tablet phone that includes near field communication, biometrics and 'brand-specific industrial design', suggesting that, as with the company's Puma phone, brands will be able to customise it to their needs.

SLICK: Sagem Wireless's Netribe Android handset combines NFC and good looks

Update: The Netribe is not a specific phone, Sagem Wireless has now told NFC World. Rather, says the company, it is "an Android platform on which we can implement NFC or any other technology."

Just two months after announcing the NFC-enabled Cosyphone, Sagem Wireless has released the first details of a second NFC device — the Sagem Netribe. Like the recently announced Puma phone, developed by Sagem Wireless for the sportswear brand, Netribe also looks set to be made available for brands to customise to the needs of their consumers.

"Netribe is more than an Android open OS tablet phone, it is the foundation of a set of deeply branded connected lifestyle devices and services," says Sagem Wireless. "By integrating technologies like solar cells, biometrics, atmospheric sensors [and] NFC, combined with brand specific industrial design, user interface and connected services, Netribe is the cornerstone of deep connected mobile brand experience."

~~The Netribe is expected to be available from the third quarter of 2010 at a cost of around US$150.~~

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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French national home care services association to roll out NFC services

Sarah Clark — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:28:00 +0000

ADMR, the French national association for providers of home care services, is to begin equipping staff with NFC phones from next month.

The association's 3,350 local members have a total of 90,000 employees, providing services such as assistance to the elderly, gardening, child care and cleaning to 600,000 customers throughout France.

"From April we will begin to equip our employees with NFC phones that they can use to validate their presence and to send reports back to base," Jean Delannoy, ADMR's director of information systems has told French publication Les Echos. "All data will be transmitted in real time."

Initial field tests were conducted using Nokia 6212 NFC phones, Les Echos reports, but ADMR is now considering using Sagem Wireless' NFC-enabled Cosyphone, aimed at the over 50s, which was announced at the Mobile World Congress.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Wima unveils speakers for annual NFC conference and exhibition

Sarah Clark — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:29:33 +0000

The fourth annual Wima NFC event, to be held in Monaco from 20-22 April 2010, will include exhibitors from around the world plus conference streams and workshops focusing on both the technical and business issues surrounding near field communication.

WIMA CONFERENCE: A 'must attend' event in the NFC industry's calendar

The organisers of the annual Wima NFC event, to be held in Monaco from 20-22 April 2010, have now finalised the programme for this year's conferences and workshops.

The event begins on Tuesday 20 April with the Second International Workshop on Near Field Communication, organised by IEEE Austria. The full day event includes tracks focusing on NFC applications and services and on hardware and security issues and features speakers presenting on topics such as the potential of NFC in the automotive sector and in the Internet of Things.

The main conference opens on 21 April with keynote presentations from Brigitte Bourgoin, chairman of the Association Française du Sans Contact Mobile (AFSCM), from Dominique Descolas of Veolia Transport and Jérôme Nadel from Sagem Wireless. The event then splits into two tracks, with one focusing on technical topics and the second focusing on business issues.

The second day of the main conference begins with a keynote panel featuring Christian Estrosi, the French Minister for Industry and the Mayor of Nice, and Suvi Lindén, Finland's Minister of Communications. The morning continues with presentations from the NFC Forum and the conference concludes in the afternoon with a 'hands on' technical workshop and further presentations in the business track.

The NFC Forum Global Competition Awards ceremony takes place on the evening of 21 April and the exhibition area is open on both 21 and 22 April.

Conference passes cost between €300 and €739, depending on the options chosen, while entry to the exhibition costs €69.

Readers can register online for the conference, workshop or exhibition on Wima's website.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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NFC takes two steps forward — and one step back

Sarah Clark — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:57:01 +0000

OPINION: A host of new NFC products and initiatives were announced at this year's Mobile World Congress but, it seems, we will have to wait until the end of this year before the first NFC handsets become widely available in the West.

While the Mobile World Congress saw the announcement of a new Sagem Wireless NFC phone and the arrival of Samsung's new NFC device, it also witnessed the official cancellation of Nokia's eagerly awaited Single Wire Protocol compliant NFC phone, the 6216 Classic.

Sagem Orga and Telenor, meanwhile, unveiled a new technology that can add NFC functionality to 100% of existing phones and Visa announced it is to run a number of field trials of DeviceFidelity's microSD solution.

But it was China that continued to take centre stage last week, as China Unicom and the Chinese banks announced plans to go head to head with China Mobile's RF SIM service. The world's first Single Wire Protocol-based NFC service is now set to go live in the second quarter of this year, says China Unicom...

Sarah Clark, Editor

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Inside Contactless to supply Cosyphone’s NFC technology

Sarah Clark — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:22:18 +0000

The near field communication functionality in Sagem Wireless' Cosyphone, a new NFC handset designed for the over 50s, is being supplied by Inside Contactless.

The Cosyphone will use all three of Inside's NFC offerings — the MicroRead NFC controller chip, Wave-Me handset client software and the Open NFC protocol stack announced earlier this month.

"The Cosyphone marks a significant milestone in the development of our NFC technologies, and we are pleased to celebrate their first commercial deployment with our partner, Sagem Wireless," says Andre Ponton, vice president of key accounts at Inside Contactless. "The Cosyphone is the embodiment of our vision of enhanced NFC services, going beyond traditional payment and transit fare transactions to actually making the phone easier to use by simplifying access to functions and services."

With Inside's Wave-Me technology in the Cosyphone, users will be able to access relevant, profile-based services with a simple waving gesture near an NFC tag or smart poster. This will automatically simulate a complex series of keystrokes, eliminating awkward, time-consuming, multi-keystroke chores, says the company.

"Sagem Wireless has a close partnership with Inside Contactless and we are pleased to be able to provide the platform for their first commercial NFC deployment with our new Cosyphone," says Jerome Nadel, executive vice president of marketing and user experience at Sagem Wireless. "Our goal with Cosyphone was to combine the latest technology innovations, including NFC, with a simple, elegant design and easy-to-use interface to create a simple, effective connected lifestyle device which makes life easier."

The Cosyphone will be available from the beginning of the third quarter of 2010.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Sagem Wireless launches NFC phone for the over 50s

Sarah Clark — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:17:02 +0000

The new Cosyphone uses NFC to make it easy for users to access the features on the phone without having to scroll through menus on the handset.

LAST GENERATION? Sagem's Cosyphone is 'ultra simple and elegant' and aimed at the over-50's

Sagem Wireless has launched the Cosyphone, a near field communication-enabled phone aimed at the over 50s.

"Cosyphone is designed to be ultra simple and elegant, with an ergonomic form factor and user interface to simplify access to the features users want quickly and easily," says Sagem Wireless. "Cosyphone uses contactless NFC technology (near field communications) to enable users to access the features of the device without scrolling through menus on the handset."

"Users can create pre-configured and customised shortcut cards (or 'tags') for friends and family, or services such as the doctors or the supermarket, and simply wave their device over the cards to activate the call or text message," the company explains. "Shortcut cards can also be used for data services, for example accessing the latest weather or traffic information on the phone’s browser."

The Cosyphone also includes a large keypad with raised and separated number keys. "Number and text input is simplified by the width of the key surface area, and the key shape is rounded on the top for better tactile awareness," says Sagem Wireless. Micro-vibration feedback gives the user assurance they have pressed the right key and the screen display uses fonts that are highly legible in various lighting conditions. The device also comes with a charger cradle that is also designed for ease of use — the phone slides in easily and does not require any cable attachments.

SIMPLE: Users can touch tags to access features instead of navigating through endless menus

"Everything about the Cosyphone is centred around comfort and simplicity, from the shape, weight and display of the device to the user interface and charger cradle," says Thierry Buffenoir, CEO of Sagem Wireless. "We have integrated the latest NFC technology to enable users to customise how they access the features they require from a mobile device. Despite such a wide variety of devices on the market, with an ageing population in Europe there is an opportunity for a simple, effective connected lifestyle device which makes life easier. Cosyphone fills this gap in the market."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Banka Koper begins NFC payments and promotions trial in Slovenia

Sarah Clark — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:30:22 +0000

Trial participants can use their Sagem Wireless NFC handsets to make payments and to collect information and promotional coupons from smart posters.

VALUE ADDED: The trial also offers a range of interactive mobile services

Slovenia's Banka Koper has begun a trial of NFC payments which is due to continue until June 2010.

Cassis International, Inside Contactless and Sagem Orga have teamed up to supply the NFC system being used by the bank, in cooperation with Mobitel, Slovenia's leading mobile network operator.

Participants will be using NFC handsets supplied by Sagem Wireless for the trial and will be able to make purchases at points of sale equipped to handle MasterCard and Maestro PayPass contactless payments cards.

They can also use their NFC phones to access a series of interactive mobile services — including contextual information, advertisements and coupons — based on smart posters.

Banka Koper's payment service will be provisioned over-the-air onto a single wire protocol SIM card. Both the MasterCard M/Chip application and Mobitel's single wire protocol NFC SIM card have been developed by Sagem Orga. The NFC-compliant Mobitel handset, manufactured by Sagem Wireless, incorporates Inside Contactless' MicroRead NFC solution, which handles communication with NFC terminals, tags and other NFC handsets, and also includes Inside's Wave-Me applet for interaction with smart posters.

Application and SIM card life cycle management is performed over-the-air by Cassis' MobileMatrix trusted service management (TSM) solution. Cassis is also providing the certified payment user-interface and smart poster management based via its PosterMatrix software platform.

"This pilot gathers state-of-the-art technologies from leaders in the industry," says Gojmir Nabergoj, senior advisor at Banka Koper. "We aim to leverage smart card and mobile technologies to enable simpler and more secure payments, and to offer value added products which really makes a difference to customers."

"Mobitel has extensive experience of innovative mobile services, especially in the field of payment," added Marko Jagodič, service unit manager at Mobitel. "Thanks to our industrial partners we were able to create a new experience of mobile payment."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Sagem Wireless to add fingerprint verification to new range of mobile phones

Sarah Clark — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:11:51 +0000

Sagem Wireless has formed a partnership with Upek to bring fingerprint identity capabilities to a range of new devices that it plans to launch later this year, including new Android-based mobile devices.

"Mobile operators, device manufacturers and application developers need identity management tools that are both convenient and secure to support the growth of mobile services such as application marketplaces, m-banking, m-commerce, mobile enterprise applications, and mobile productivity tools," says Sagem Wireless.

"By offering an open, standards-based platform for mobile identity services, the strategic partnership between Sagem Wireless and Upek enables an ecosystem of operators, manufacturers and application developers to seamlessly utilise fingerprint identity capabilities to personalise mobile services and make mobile applications more secure, faster and easier to use," the company explains.

Adding fingerprint identity solutions to mobile phones offers a range of benefits, says Sagem Wireless, such as:

Simplified user experience without any need to remember and re-type personal information such as usernames, passwords and account numbers. Users just employ a fast and simple touch gesture to identify themselves.
Quicker and easier purchases from mobile application marketplaces and on-line stores along with better protection against identity theft and piracy.
Faster and more secure mobile payments, mobile banking and other new mobile applications

"The emergence of new connected lifestyle devices is changing the way users interact with and consume mobile services," explains Jerome Nadel, executive vice president of marketing and user experience at Sagem Wireless. "Both security and usability are critical to reducing perceptions of risk, improving convenience, and encouraging usage. Biometric solutions such as fingerprint sensors simplify the process of user identification, providing faster and more secure access to personalised services and transactions. Sagem Wireless will continue to integrate fingerprint biometrics in a range of our connected devices. We're delighted to be working with Upek to incorporate their technology into some of our most exciting and game changing devices to come."

"By developing the service and the device hand-in-hand, Sagem Wireless and Upek are helping to spur innovative applications that take advantage of the full potential of fingerprint ID capabilities," adds Carl Temme, vice president of business development and strategic marketing at Upek.

The two companies will be demonstrating fingerprint identity capabilities for Android mobile applications on Sagem Wireless' booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 15 to 18 February.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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NFC phones enter mass production

Sarah Clark — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:34:18 +0000

OPINION: The news that Malaysian manufacturer Fonelabs is to produce two million NFC phones in 2010 is the first sign that the issue of a lack of NFC handsets is beginning to be resolved.

As well as Fonelabs' X-Series, handsets from Samsung, Sagem Wireless, Toshiba, LG and Nokia were on show at Cartes last month — but, to date, Fonelabs is the only company to actually put NFC phones into large-scale production.

For the major phone manufacturers, there's a big difference between developing pre-production and limited run models and entering full scale mass production. Will other handset manufacturers follow Fonelabs' lead?

Sarah Clark, Editor

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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