RIM Rolls Out NFC-Based BlackBerry Tag

Delving ever deeper into mobile payments territory, Research In Motion has unveiled a new way for BlackBerry smartphone users to connect with one another and share multimedia content.

                                             

Meet BlackBerry Tag, which will be incorporated in the next BlackBerry 7 OS update. The new offering will allow users to share contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content by – you guessed it – tapping their BlackBerry smartphones together.

According to a press release issued by RIM following the announcement Monday, BlackBerry Tag will also enable friends to instantly add one another as contacts on BlackBerry Messenger.

Read more »

BlackBerry Gets Nod from MasterCard as PayPass-Approved Devices

This week, Research In Motion announced the BlackBerry BoldTM 9900 and BlackBerry CurveTM 9360 smartphones are the first SIM-based NFC smartphones to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide as PayPass-approved devices.

                               

According to a press release from RIM, the certification “was granted on the basis of the BlackBerry smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability and security requirements of MasterCard.”

What does it all mean? With this certification, any MasterCard PayPass-issuing bank globally will be able to deploy MasterCard PayPass-enabled accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones.

Read more »