Paywall makes online transactions simple, easy and private.

Place content in your Drop.io drop and enable Paywall to charge users for access to your drop. Access can be either per use or subscription based.

All Paywall transactions are processed by Amazon so your users can use their existing Amazon accounts to pay for access to your drop’s content.

Paywall has many advantages over other third party retail systems:

• unique storefronts for single or multiple digital assets
• access to Amazon’s near ubiquitous accounts
• low commission structure
• trusted Amazon payment processing
• access to Drop.io sharing services to broadcast your content’s availability

Paywall has numerous benefits to independent content developers who are looking for a lightweight transaction system to sell their offerings. Below please find three use cases to demonstrate how individuals and groups can use Paywall.

Simplest way to store any file & sharing through various channels online – drop.io

Use drop.io to create drops and privately share your files by web, email, phone, fax, and more. Drops are protected from search engines so you can conveniently share what you want, how you want, with whom you want.

Its simpler than FTP, more powerful then E-mail, lower-cast sharing

drop.io is an online service for sharing files at very low cost. Choose the name of your drop (storage) and click create drop then you are in.

The price for 1G is only 10$.

It not just a storage service but more then that. Following are the two highlighted features

Add any file type using various methods

web: type drops url and click “add files” – upload any file type

Fax: dial drop’s fax number – transmission apears as a document

Phone: dial drop’s phone number, voice mail is saved an audio file

Facebook Profile: allow friends to view and add files

Email: send to drop’s address – text/attachment is uploaded

Firefox: download plug-in to access drops, upload files, and create new drops

MMS: send to drop’s email address – picture/text is uploaded

Hidden Uploader/Downloader: privately collect/share files without revealing unique URL

Share through multiple channels

Email/SMS Alert: notifies when a file is added to drop

Contact: distribute drop’s unique vCard and business card

RSS/Dropcast: subscribe to drop with any RSS reader or as an iTunes podcast

Zip archive: download all drops files with a single click

Twitter: tweet any file added to a drop to all your twitter followers

Conference call: call drop’s conference line to communicate with multiple parties

FB Connect: user Facebook Connect to share drop update directly on your Facebook feed.

PayWall: charge for access to your drop’s content (subscription or per use)

Wireless Technologies (2G/GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 4G)

2G/GSM
2G (or 2-G) is short for second-generation wireless telephone technology.

Second generation 2G cellular telecoms networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa) in 1991. Three primary benefits of 2G networks over their predecessors were that phone conversations were digitally encrypted, 2G systems were significantly more efficient on the spectrum allowing for far greater mobile phone penetration levels; and 2G introduced data services for mobile, starting with SMS text messages.

2G/GSM
GSM (Global System for Mobile communications: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 82% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is used by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are digital, and thus is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This has also meant that data communication was easy to build into the system.

GPRS
Short for General Packet Radio Service, a standard for wireless communications which runs at speeds up to 115 kilobits per second, compared with current GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) systems’ 9.6 kilobits.
GPRS, which supports a wide range of bandwidths, is an efficient use of limited bandwidth and is particularly suited for sending and receiving small bursts of data, such as e-mail and Web browsing, as well as large volumes of data.

EDGE
Acronym for Enhanced Data GSM Environment. EDGE is a faster version of GSM wireless service. EDGE enables data to be delivered at rates up to 384 Kbps on a broadband. The standard is based on the GSM standard and uses TDMA multiplexing technology.

3G
3G refers to the third generation of developments in wireless technology, especially mobile communications. The third generation, as its name suggests, follows the first generation (1G) and second generation (2G) in wireless communications.

3G includes capabilities and features such as:

Enhanced multimedia (voice, data, video, and remote control).

Usability on all popular modes (cellular telephone, e-mail, paging, fax, videoconferencing, and Web browsing).

Broad bandwidth and high speed (upwards of 2 Mbps).

Roaming capability throughout Europe, Japan, and North America.

4G
4G is the short term for fourth-generation wireless, the stage of broadband mobile communications that will supercede the third generation (3G). While neither standards bodies nor carriers have concretely defined or agreed upon what exactly 4G will be, it is expected that end-to-end IP and high-quality streaming video will be among 4G’s distinguishing features. Fourth generation networks are likely to use a combination of WiMAX and WiFi.

Mobile Money Transfer

Welcome to the GSMA’s Mobile Money Transfer Strategic Initiative

The GSMA’s Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) programme was launched with the aim of tapping the ubiquity and ease-of-use of mobile communications to enable the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents, many of whom don’t have bank accounts.

By exploiting the extensive reach of the mobile networks, the programme will complement existing local remittances channels and make transferring money internationally significantly more affordable.

About Mobile Money Transfer

Over $275 million is remitted every year from developed economies to emerging markets through recorded channels and the World Bank estimates that half as much again travels through unrecorded channels. The use of the mobile phone as a sending and receiving mechanism for remittances has the potential to enable low denomination remittances (sub $100) to be made much more affordable. This will create a new market, driving the accessibility of remittances globally to reach an estimated 1.5-2bn recipients. The impact of this will be to increase the overall penetration and usage of m-transfers, m-payments, and m-banking globally.

Our vision of money transfer is that it should no longer be restricted to the ‘traditional’ physical methods of moving money. Money should be available and able to be moved 24×7, 365 days of the year, wherever you are. MMT services will offer the opportunity to send money to in excess of 3 billion mobile phone users across all networks and geographic boundaries.

source:  http://www.gsmworld.com/mmt/index.shtml

Pay-Buy-Mobile – put’s a credit card in your mobile

The GSMA’s ‘Pay-Buy-Mobile’ (PBM) initiative is at the heart of new services being rolled-out by the world’s mobile network operators that will enable you to pass a phone close to a point-of-sale ‘reader’ when you are buying goods or services. With PBM, it’s just like having your credit or debit card in your mobile phone. So, instead of handing over a physical card, you will simply use your mobile phone to pay for the goods and services that you have bought.

The service will typically be available in hundreds of shops, supermarkets, restaurants or railway stations – all around the world. When you’ve paid, the transaction will appear on your next credit or debit card statement. It’s as simple as that.

How Pay-Buy-Mobile works

Near Field Technology (NFC) is at the heart of the Pay-Buy-Mobile technology. Handsets equipped with an NFC chip can communicate with existing contactless payment systems. When passed closed to the reader, data can be exchanged between the handset and the point of sale device. This facility can be used to deliver a wide range of secure, interoperable and transparent services, such as credit and debit payments.

Specialised handsets offered by operators have their Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), often known as the SIM card, linked to the phone’s Near Field Communications (NFC) chip. The 35 mobile network operators involved in the PBM initiative, which together have 1.4 billion customers, all support the use of the Single Wire Protocol as a standard to link the UICC with the phone’s NFC chip. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) adopted this standard in October 2007.

To enable the service, the credit card application is downloaded into the secure environment of the UICC that is embedded in the phone. More than one credit or debit card can be stored in the same UICC, thus increasing the convenience of PBM to the consumer. In use, data transferred by NFC from the handset to the reader is communicated to financial organisations using the same secure process as used for conventional credit or debit cards transactions.

source: http://www.gsmworld.com/pbm/how.shtml

Airtel, Western Union in Mobile Cash Transfer Deal

In a first-of-its-kind agreement, Bharti Airtel and Western Union have decided to jointly develop and pilot a Mobile Money Transfer service in India. This pioneering agreement will usher in the possibility of sending money to India via a mobile phone. The Mobile Money Transfer service is subject to regulatory approval.

According to The World Bank, the number of migrants globally is 200 million – approximately three percent of the world’s population. The World Bank also identifies India as the number one remittance recipient market. Statistics from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggest that the inward annual remittance into India stood at over $26 billion for the fiscal year 2006 – 2007, accounting for approximately 10 percent of the global inward remittance market.(1)

“We are delighted to work with Western Union in this path-breaking initiative and be at the forefront of enabling international remittance over mobile for our 50 million mobile phone customers in India. This will help us move money via mobile in a fast and convenient way, supporting low-value transactions,” said Mr. Gopal Vittal, director marketing and communications, Bharti Airtel Limited.

Bharti Airtel has an extensive footprint across India and Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, has more than 320,000 Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. In India, Western Union operates through 45,000 Agent locations, including 8,500 post offices and more than 14,000 bank branches across 5,000 towns and cities. This program will enable Indians living abroad to send remittances to their families in India in an easy and convenient fashion through the vast networks of both companies.

“Our association with Bharti Airtel for the Mobile Money Transfer service is an important step in expanding the range of Western Union(R) global services to a new category of consumers across the world,” said Matt Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. “This is a very exciting development, especially given the expanse and reach of mobile services in the Indian subcontinent.”

The reach and accessibility of mobile networks in developing economies create new opportunities to extend the benefits of financial services to many families for the first time.

Mobile networks now cover the majority of the world’s population.(2) Applications that allow a mobile subscriber to view and manage funds on their handsets are emerging in select countries as a foundation for phone-based financial services.

The relationship with Bharti Airtel follows a landmark agreement between Western Union and the GSM Association (GSMA), a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services. Bharti Airtel chairs the steering committee of the GSMA’s Mobile Money Transfer program. Thirty-five mobile networks operators are participating in the program, which is designed to stimulate the development, trials and commercialization of mobile remittance services.

(1) Source: RBI

(2) Source: GSMA

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is India’s leading integrated telecom services provider with an aggregate of 53 million customers as of the end of October 2007, consisting of 50.9 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list in 2007.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units: Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business provides mobile and fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The Telemedia business provides broadband and telephone services in 94 cities and is foraying into the IPTV and DTH segments. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Airtel’s high-speed optic fiber network currently spans over 55,000 kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems – i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. For more information, visit www.bhartiairtel.in.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is a leader in global money transfer services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta, Vigo and Pago Facil, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a network of more than 320,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.WesternUnion.com.

WU-G

SOURCE: The Western Union Company

The Western Union Company
Anja Reitermann, +33-49-35-82-815
anja.reitermann@intl.WesternUnion.com
Daniel Diaz, +1-720-332-5564
daniel.diaz@WesternUnion.com

Copyright Business Wire 2007

News Provided by COMTEX

Nokia 6131 NFC phone

 

Nokia 6136

With Nokia 6131 NFC phone you can have your credit card, travel card and loyalty card in your phone and use it as a multi-purpose smart card. Use the Nokia 6131 NFC to pay for your purchases with speed and ease or access any mobile services, e.g. weather forecast and the latest news just by touching a tag. The Nokia 6131 NFC supports JSR 257 for 3rd party NFC application developers. Flip open the Nokia 6131 NFC with a unique one-touch push-to-open design for comfortable one-hand messaging, dialing and answering calls. The 6131 NFC features a brilliant 16.7-million “true color” main display and 262,144-color outer display, ideal for use with the 1.3-megapixel camera and playing music with the AAC/MP3 player and FM radio with Visual Radio technology.

Near future of near field

Your pants pockets may soon be obsolete.

Or a few of them, at least, if near-field communication (NFC) catches on. The technology would let you store a lot of what you keep in your wallet — most significantly credit cards and cash — on your cell phone.

Near-field communication is a simple technology that transfers small amounts of data via radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders. It’s similar to technology used in contactless credit cards such as MasterCard’s PayPass or Esso’s Speedpass. The difference is that NFC will follow industry-wide standards, which would allow devices universal access instead of just at specific stores or gas stations. A group called the NFC Forum — a partnership between Sony, NXP, Microsoft, Visa, MasterCard and more than 110 other companies and organizations — is in charge of setting NFC’s standards.

Justin Oberman, a New York-based new media consultant, heard about an NFC trial in New York City from a friend who worked at Citibank. There have been similar trials in different markets across the world to test the technology and gage consumer’s reactions. This particular trial was a partnership between Citibank, MasterCard, Cingular (now AT&T) and Nokia.

Enlarge ImageCellphones equipped with specialized RFID transponders may one day replace credit and bank cards. (Philips)

• A video demonstration of what NFC-enabled phones can do 

After signing up online, Citibank sent Mr. Oberman to an unveiling in Bryant Park. Clerks gave him a new phone. At another spot they took his SIM card from his old phone and put it in the new one and then sent text messages that linked to sites where Mr. Oberman could download software and register with his bank. Scattered around the tent they had set up were “smart” objects that worked with the phone. Tapping a movie poster accessed the movie’s trailer. Tapping the Citi display downloaded the bank’s commercial.

An NFC chip costs about $2 U.S. and can be attached to almost anything. Cellphones, however, are proving to be the device of choice. “We did a number of surveys and focus groups with customers basically investigating which options [they] would be comfortable with, interested in, to make a payment,” says Simon Pugh, MasterCard’s senior vice president of infrastructure and standards for advanced payments solutions. “Number one was the card, not surprisingly. But number two was the mobile phone.” Other options MasterCard investigated were keys, watches and handbags.

In May 2006 ABI Research predicted 50 per cent of cellphones — 500 million of them — would be NFC-enabled by 2010 because of its wide range of applications. But wireless operators have been hesitant to buy into the concept until clear revenue-generating models are established. In September 2006, ABI downgraded its prediction to 30 per cent by 2011. Last April they further downgraded their forecast to 20 per cent of the worldwide market by 2012 — 292 million handsets.

“We’re in a bit of a chicken and egg situation at the moment, to be honest,” says Mr. Pugh. “The mobile operators are deciding when to ask the manufactures to build commercial quantities of the products. The manufacturers are sitting, waiting for commercial orders. The banks are saying: ‘we’re keen on doing this but we don’t see them commercially available yet.’ So all of the entities are sort of circling waiting for someone to move.”

To cope with the problem MasterCard has followed a “cards first” strategy, using their contactless PayPass cards, in part, as a stepping stone to NFC phones. The technologies are very similar, but PayPass doubles as a traditional credit card. This gives consumers the option to treat it like a traditional credit card and test the new technology at their leisure. At the same time, it puts an infrastructure in place for NFC-enabled phones and familiarizes consumers with the concept.

“I think the biggest issue that they’ll have to overcome if they want to see broad acceptance is around security,” says Chris Ziegler, associate mobile editor for the technology blog Engadget. “A lot of people are concerned that it’s going to make it extremely easy to steal your credit card information.”

To deal with security concerns phone manufacturers offer customizable features that require users to authorize transactions by typing a PIN into their handsets. Credit card companies typically offer the same security and liability limits as they do with their other contactless products (PayPass, ExpressPay, etc.). And the encryption of the transmitted data itself is quite robust. But consumer fear sometimes has little to do with a technology’s actual specifications — it may be a PR battle rather than a technical one.

Next Generation Contact-free file transfer with Wireless USB

Wireless USB means you’ll be able to wirelessly download images and file.

The Wireless USB Promoter Gorup said this week that version 1.1 of the Wireless USB specification will include “touch and go” capabilities used by Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

Put simply, the spec will allow devices to be brought into close proximity with the host, allowing them to be instantly associated, without the need for manual setup.

The Wireless USB specification, version 1.0, is slowly rolling out as part of wireless devices. Both IOGEAR and Icron have announced their own Wireless USB hubs, although both are pricey: $395, in the case of the Icron hub.

The 1.1 spec will be finalized in the first half of 2008. Typically, products based upon a new specification revision require an additional six months or so before they’re brought to market.

In addition, the new spec will provide frequencies of above 6 GHz, and include provisions to enhance power efficiency for better battery life. The NFC protocols that the spec will support have been used in wireless payment applications, where a smartcard or a mobile phone is brought close to a receiver, and an encrypted data transmission is performed.

Wireless USB is, as the name suggests, a wireless version of the wired USB protocol, running over an ultrawideband radio. The specification is led by Intel, with many of the competing products shifting to trying to run high-def video and audio data between CE components.

“The Wireless USB 1.1 Specification builds on the key features – speed, ease of use, and security – that have made the 1.0 specification so successful,” said Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF president. “The Wireless USB Promoter Group will define new features that make a great specification even better to improve product offerings for manufacturers and ultimately enhance the end-user experience.”

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a new, short-range wireless connectivity technology that evolved from a combination of existing contactless identification and interconnection technologies. Products with built-in NFC will dramatically simplify the way consumer devices interact with one another, helping people speed connections, receive and share information and even make fast and secure payments.

Operating at 13.56 MHz and transferring data at up to 424 Kbits/second, NFC provides intuitive, simple, and safe communication between electronic devices. NFC is both a “read” and “write” technology. Communication between two NFC-compatible devices occurs when they are brought within four centimeters of one another: a simple wave or touch can establish an NFC connection, which is then compatible with other known wireless technologies such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards. Because the transmission range is so short, NFC-enabled transactions are inherently secure. Also, physical proximity of the device to the reader gives users the reassurance of being in control of the process.

NFC can be used with a variety of devices, from mobile phones that enable payment or transfer information to digital cameras that send their photos to a TV set with just a touch. The possibilities are endless, and NFC is sure to take the complexities out of today’s increasingly sophisticated consumer devices and make them simpler to use.