STMicroelectronics’ Secure NFC Technology Enhances Contactless User Experience in Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro
Shanghai, China / 28 Jun 2018At MWC 2018 Shanghai, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has revealed that its Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology is powering the contactless features of TicWatch Pro, the latest flagship smartwatch from Mobvoi, a leading Chinese company in AI technologies and applications.
ST technology ensures secure and robust connectivity for fast and reliable contactless payment and e-ticket transactions. Prioritizing enhanced user experience and convenience, Mobvoi integrated ST’s NFC controller (ST21NFCD) in TicWatch Pro for its unique technology that boosts RF performance without penalizing battery performance and integrated features that minimize circuit size to reduce bill-of-materials costs.
“The Mobvoi and ST cooperation has worked long and effectively on various key components used in Mobvoi leading-edge smartwatches, to allow TicWatch Pro to bring high value and convenience to Mobvoi customers,” said Zhifei Li, CEO and Founder of Mobvoi. “The high RF performance of the ST21NFCD especially brings great user experience to customers for long-range RF communication when processing secure transactions, without impacting battery life.”
“The high RF performance of ST’s NFC solution, along with its very low power consumption, and compatibility to very small antenna geometry allows customers to enhance their product offering on any type of Smart devices,” said Bruno Batut, STMicroelectronics’ Secure Microcontrollers Marketing and Application Director Asia Pacific. “Whichever platform is selected, integration can be handled smoothly to reduce the time-to-market for our customers.”
The ST21NFCD enables TicWatch Pro to support multiple contactless-payment schemes relevant to China UnionPay, along with e-ticket transactions for transportation in major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Wuhan, Qingdao and many cities in the Guangdong province in Southern China. This e-ticketing service will be available in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuhan in July 2018, followed by Qingdao and cities in the Guangdong province in the near future. By simply lifting their wrists and scanning their TicWatch Pro, consumers in all these cities can enjoy quick e-ticketing services for buses and the metro.
The ST21NFCD can also be associated with ST’s ST33 series secure microcontrollers, either as an embedded secure element (eSE) or an eSIM, to provide the best protection to customer’s privacy during data exchanges, by addressing the highest security standard, including Common Criteria up to EAL5+ and EMVCo.
About STMicroelectronics
ST is a global semiconductor leader delivering intelligent and energy-efficient Products and solutions that power the electronics at the heart of everyday life. ST’s Products are found everywhere today and together with our customers, we are enabling smarter driving and smarter factories, cities and homes, along with the next generation of mobile and Internet of Things devices.
By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented.
In 2017, the Company’s net revenues were $8.35 billion, serving more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Further information can be found at www.st.com.
