The NFC, is the hottest technology… since the previous hot technology. It was developed to help people to communicate and share information on very (very!) small range. But is it just yet another information sharing technology? Well, yeah, but it’s not the technology itself that counts in this case, but all the companies standing behind it.

The NFC technology itself has been around for over 15 years now and many companies invested in it during that time. Right now there are 140 companies that joined up in a non profit association called the NFC Forum, to develop and promote this mobile technology. And to name just a few: Google, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, HTC, Sony Ericsson, RIM, Motorola, LG, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, AT&T, Qualc… enough already – the point is that with such companies in the background, NFC simply cannot fail. It’ll surely become a standard.

Area of usage.

Possibilities are huge. We may use our NFC device as:

• ticket to a movie, concert or some sport event,
• a social networking tool to share contacts or other data, mobile gaming,
• home or hotel room keys,
• identification – no need to have an ID card

…and of course payments.

It’s very promising, but I’m afraid that security issues and the possibility that NFC Forum members may have different goals to achieve, will exclude NFC from mass usage in some of the areas listed above. For instance: Microsoft and Nokia compete with Google in field of mobile technologies. Google competes with PayPal on the mobile payments field. Let’s just hope that they all see the big picture and work together for the good of us all.

Thoughts on Near Field Communication

Is NFC the “new” Bluetooth?

No. Different specification, different purpose. But NFC is a remedy (in most cases) for all the Bluetooth inconveniences, meaning mostly its most irritating flaw: establishing connections. And hence NFC would perfectly solve this problem, both technologies should work in tandem .

Is NFC the better QR code?

These are completely different things, so no. However, this is true only if we consider QR codes as mostly used on business cards and in some marketing forms that use cut down, shredded and pressed trees smeared with ink. QR codes are links between paper and electronics. It’s quite sad, but QR codes are endangered species, I just hope that they soon meet, and make love, to augmented reality (on the big scale).

NFC vs. Bump Technology

NFC uses hardware chips, it’s quicker and doesn’t need Internet connection, so it’s most likely to assassinate the idea of bumping that is software based and uses your transfer (or requires a Wi-Fi connection).

What is NFC surely is…

Is late, that’s for sure. Mobile devices should’ve had those chips installed a few years ago, now we should have the darn thing everywhere. The payment aspect of the NFC, in my opinion, isn’t the most interesting one, because, quite frankly, we got used to contactless cards like PayPass or PayWave (and their flaws as well). Of course, it’s pretty neat to be able to pay simply by passing your smartphone over a terminal, but what gives me goosebumps is the ability to do many different things with the very same, single device.
You just have to hope and pray that you won’t lose your phone.

Wojtek

Wojtek is a pretty tall guy (2 meters / 6.56 feet) and doesn't talk much, so sometimes people think he looks down on them not only literally. But if you spend some time with him, you'll find out he's a really friendly person with a great sense of humor. Though still, at work (besides joking) he usually writes his code, sitting in the corner of the room with headphones on.