We have all been debating over the last couple of weeks on the blog sphere as to the NFC (Near Field Communications) chip that is present in the new Symbian^3 device – the Nokia C7. As many of you might know the C7 devices have all been shipped with the chip incorporated in the hardware, but inactive as there is no apparent software application in the current OS.
This is all about to change, according to Nokia’s head of PR for France, Xavier des Horts who this weekend told technology publication Teknologik in an exclusive video interview, that a firmware upgrade enabling the C7 to handle a variety of NFC tag reading and pairing applications will be available from the beginning of next year.
The Nokia C7 smartphone will then be able to handle any NFC tag reading and pairing functions from the beginning of 2011.
Here is an excerpt from the interview – for those that understand French 
Nokia launched the C7 in September and revealed shortly afterwards that the smartphone contains an NFC chip and that it would be possible to upgrade the device to support NFC. It did not reveal at the time, however, when the software upgrade needed to switch on its NFC functionality would be available, until now.
No date has yet been set for the arrival of payments applications on Nokia phones, however, although des Horts does say that the handset maker will provide card emulation functions in the future. Whether that will be possible with the C7, though, is not currently clear as industry rumours suggest the C7 may not include the necessary hardware to support payments applications.
Confusion also remains over whether there are any other current Nokia phones that contain an NFC chip. Earlier this month Jo Harlow, Nokia’s senior vice president for smartphones, told Bloomberg Businessweek that NFC will be available on ‘some existing devices’ early next year. In the Teknologik interview, des Horts says Nokia has developed six NFC phones over the past seven to eight years.
If two early shells that fitted over standard phones to deliver near field communication functionality, the Field Force NFC Shell and the NFC Shell CC-229D, are included then there are already six Nokia NFC devices out there (the two shells, the cancelled 6216 Classic, the widely used 6212 Classic, the 6131 and the Symbian^3-based C7).
If the shells are excluded, though, it could mean there are two other current devices that contain an NFC chip. Nokia told NFC World in October, however, that the C7 is the only one of the four devices it unveiled at Nokia World in September to include NFC functionality – neither the C3, the C6 nor the E7 contain an NFC chip.
For those of you interested in watching this weeks entire show, just click here, I must remind you that it is in French though.
(Source)
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