América Móvil, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT Corporation, MTS, Orange, Qtel Group, SK Telecom, SOFTBANK MOBILE, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor and Vodafone, have voiced their commitment to implementing Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, and intend to launch commercial NFC services in select markets by 2012.
“NFC is perhaps best known for its role in enabling mobile payments, but its applications go far beyond that,” said Franco Bernabè, Chairman, GSMA and CEO, Telecom Italia. “NFC represents an important innovation opportunity, and will facilitate a wide range of interesting services and applications for consumers, such as mobile ticketing, mobile couponing, the exchange of information and content, control access to cars, homes, hotels, offices car parks and much more.”
The market potential for NFC is significant – according to Frost & Sullivan, the total payment value for NFC globally will reach more than €110 billion in 2015 – and momentum behind the technology is growing rapidly. To address this opportunity and to provide valuable new services to mobile users worldwide, the operator community is focused on driving the standardised deployment of mobile NFC, using the SIM as the secure element to provide authentication, security and portability.
To achieve this, the GSMA will develop the necessary certification and testing standards to ensure global interoperability of NFC services. This interoperability is critical to the widespread adoption of NFC, enabling users to benefit from NFC services around the world, regardless of operator network or device type.
“As we have seen, the adoption of different approaches to NFC will only serve to fragment the market,” continued Bernabè. “By uniting around a single standardised approach to mobile NFC and by collaborating across the entire ecosystem, our industry will continue to develop the compelling services that customers demand.”
GSMA have also released a video showcasing NFC mobile devices being used in Nice – France in a pilot programme that was launched in May 2010 and co-ordinated by the Association Française pour le Sans Contact Mobile (AFSCM) under the banner of CITYZI - the brand name for NFC services in France.
As you can see NFC phones can be used to pay for public transport, access information in public places like museums for audio descriptions, with loyalty cards on a customers phone – obtain discount coupons in a supermarket and even to rent bicycles. What really struck us was the use of this technology at the Clarion Hotel in Stockholm where the user can check-in, access his room as well as check out via his mobile device without even having to go to the hotel’s reception – this is truly awesome.
Currently Nokia only have one device that is NFC compatible – the Nokia C7, and this has still to be activated through a simple software update and when this will occur is still to be confirmed by Nokia, sadly the recently launched E7 doesn’t have the NFC chip either. Will Nokia catch up to other mobile companies and start launching more models that are compatible? I personally hope so, because from the video above, we are currently behind in this fast paced race. The technology is advancing far quicker than many had anticipated and if Nokia don’t adapt and incorporate the NFC chip in more of their devices, it could set back Nokia a long long way, something they don’t need at this stage of the game.
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