This edition of C-IQ sees us tackling two of the industry’s biggest topics: transport and mobile. The good news is that we’re starting to see progress in both areas. The bad news is that people are becoming frustrated by the slow pace of change, something the industry is well aware of.

The way consumers access the media is changing. Richard Titus, CEO, AND, tells C-IQ about innovation in 21st century media companies.

With the mobile handset being used for an even wider range of functions, from payments to web access, Jeffrey Glueck, chief executive officer, Skyfire, tells C-IQ about improving the user experience when accessing the Internet on the move.

Ram Banerjee has been involved in smart cards for more than 20 years covering all aspects of the technology, from operating systems and applications to cryptography. He was head of Java Card technology at Sun for four years during which time the annual deployment of Java Cards quadrupled to more than one billion. He has co-founded a number of smart card companies including GIS, which supplies custom handheld terminals to the transit industry, and ACT, the largest technology provider for contactless ticketing solutions in the UK. He tells C-IQ about the importance of transportation to the contactless sector.

A new contactless smart card for concessionary bus pass holders being rolled out across Wales is the nation’s first step in transforming the way people use public transport. A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson told C-IQ about its decision to use the technology.

It’s 10 years since Montreal’s transit system started looking at contactless to improve the service for travelers in the region. René Coutu, section head, Integration of Business Solutions for Fare Sales & Collection, and Richard Laviolette, project manager, Montreal Transport Authority (Société de transport de Montréal – STM), tell C-IQ about how the contactless system has progressed.

Public transport users in Northern Ireland are using contactless cards on a daily basis to travel around the province. The iLink scheme, operated by the main public transport provider Translink, is Northern Ireland’s first commercial integrated bus and rail card and represents a major step forward in delivering integrated travel for customers throughout the entire country. iLink is ideal for customers who use both bus and train services or make cross-zonal journeys regularly or want the flexibility of using either the bus or train to reach their destination. The technology has been welcomed by staff and customers alike because no intervention or cash handling is required at any stage of the validation process, leading to improved boarding times for all customers. With iLink now being mass-sold to new markets such as statutory bodies and property developers, William McGookin, Ticketing Systems manager, Translink, tells C-IQ about the scheme’s implementation.

Lignes d'Azur is the public transport network of the Nice Cote d'Azur urban area which covers 25 districts. It serves a population of 500,000 and provides trams, buses, coaches, transport on demand and self-service bicycles. Dominique Descolas, head of Ticketing & Services on mobile phones, Veolia Transport, the company that operates the system via a delegated service contract, explains what the region is doing with contactless technology.

The UK has been making steady progress with smart and contactless ticketing. Michael Leach, CEO, ITSO tells C-IQ about advances being made in the market.

The UK Home Office has announced it is working with industry members to ensure that criminals don’t take advantage of the contactless technology used in mobile phones, which enables the user to make contactless payments with their mobile. C-IQ spoke with the UK’s Minister for Crime Reduction, Alan Campbell, about creating guidelines, and the government’s view on contactless mobile payments in the UK.

The German market has been pretty slow in adopting contactless. Dr Hubertus von Poser, head of Lending & Payments at Capgemini Consulting, discusses the company’s research into mobile payment and tells C-IQ about potential progress for contactless in Germany.

Tap and Pay, the massive mobile proximity payments pilot project using Near Field Communications (NFC) in the Indian city of Bangalore, was a watershed in the history of mobile financial services.

If you were at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, you were probably aware of the stir caused by the rollout of a ground-breaking NFC pilot, which took place following months of hard graft by some of the ecosystem’s leading players.

Accelerating the adoption of NFC in the real world has become a mission for some of the industry’s leading thinkers. John T Nagle, CEO, ZAPA Technology, tells C-IQ about his company’s work in this area.

There’s no doubt that Near Field Communications (NFC) technology has captured the imagination of consumers around the world, as well as attracting plenty of media attention. To date there has been a host of successful pilot schemes revealing extremely high levels of satisfaction with the technology. Yet critics point to the classic ‘chicken and egg’ situation faced by the mobile industry, that it can’t launch services on any commercial scale because suitable NFC-enabled cell phones are not available.