Opinion
November 16th, 2010
Could Apple’s iTunes announcement include NFC?
OPINION: The last 48 hours have seen a rush of announcements showing that near field communication is moving rapidly to widespread adoption: Android: Google's CEO Eric Schmidt has revealed that the next generation Android Gingerbread... More
September 16th, 2010
NFC begins to get the attention of the mass market — but will it be a help or a hindrance?
OPINION: After years of low profile technical development, it's now becoming clear that the commercial arrival of NFC is going to be very high profile indeed. And that high profile is set to bring further complications to those looking to commercialise NFC services. More
August 18th, 2010
US NFC payments market heats up — but advertising revenues will be the way to make it pay
OPINION: Almost from nowhere, interest in near field communication technology has exploded in the US over the last few weeks as key potential market players have begun to reveal their hands. More
June 17th, 2010
Nokia commits to an NFC future, but retailers are set to rebel
OPINION: The Finnish phone giant has become the first major manufacturer to commit to building NFC into its devices, with the announcement that all its new smartphones will come with the technology built-in from 2011. Just as one problem seems to have been solved, however, a new battlefield is now emerging in the retail payments space. More
June 4th, 2010
One in five mobile phones to feature NFC by 2012
OPINION: Licensing deals signed by Innovision will see NFC functionality being built into 15% to 20% of the handsets shipped in 2012, says the company, as leading mobile phone chipset manufacturers look for low cost ways to add NFC into mass market mobile phones. More
May 18th, 2010
Turkey, France and China move towards NFC adoption
OPINION: News from Turkey, France and China this week indicates that the NFC market is now beginning to gather pace around the world, as both mobile network operators and banks in more and more countries commit to working together to make near field communication based services a reality. More
April 30th, 2010
NFC handsets and business models — one down, one to go?
OPINION: NFC silicon suppliers Inside Contactless and NXP both say they now expect to see a range of Android NFC phones arriving on the market from the end of this year with, says Inside's Loic Hamon, a "vast portfolio of phones next year for sure." More
April 15th, 2010
Apple’s mobile commerce ambitions are set to kickstart NFC
OPINION: While the steady stream of new NFC patent applications from Apple over the last few months has been interesting, it has been important to not get too excited — there's a big difference between a company filing a patent application and actually building a new technology into its products. This week, however, everything has changed. More
March 29th, 2010
Retail partnerships are the key to a new NFC business model
OPINION: Korean mobile network operator SK Telecom's new T Smart Pay service comes with more than one twist to the 'standard' NFC business model. Not only has SKT bought its way into a card issuer for the launch, but it is also signing distribution deals with leading retailers. More
March 15th, 2010
Banks get serious about NFC
OPINION: Interest in near field communication is gathering pace in the financial services sector, fuelled by the arrival of NFC-enabled microSD cards and a recognition that there is a business model to be found — so long as you look for it hard enough. More
February 24th, 2010
NFC takes two steps forward — and one step back
OPINION: A host of new NFC products and initiatives were announced at this year's Mobile World Congress but, it seems, we will have to wait until the end of this year before the first NFC handsets become widely available in the West. More
February 11th, 2010
Has China Mobile found the business model for mobile contactless and NFC?
OPINION: One of the key forecasts in our new report 'NFC: The Road to Commercial Deployment' is that successful NFC services will require one company to firmly take the lead, and that this will inevitably see banks and mobile network operators going head-to-head in a battle to win control of consumers' mobile wallets. More
January 22nd, 2010
NFC’s fortunes will favour the bold
OPINION: It has become received wisdom in NFC circles that Japan and Korea, where mobile contactless services were successful established by one lead player, are unique and can't be repeated elsewhere. More
December 22nd, 2009
2010 will be a critical year for NFC
OPINION: 2010 is set to be a key year for NFC as mobile network operators, banks and potential service providers switch from small scale trials to pre-commercial pilots in readiness for the first commercial launches in 2011. More
December 3rd, 2009
NFC phones enter mass production
OPINION: The news that Malaysian manufacturer Fonelabs is to produce two million NFC phones in 2010 is the first sign that the issue of a lack of NFC handsets is beginning to be resolved. More
November 20th, 2009
NFC takes centre stage in Paris
OPINION: The Cartes show in Paris this week was a hotbed of new NFC product launches, firmly putting it on the list of must-attend events for anyone looking to keep on top of developments in the NFC industry. More
November 6th, 2009
A year is a short time in NFC
OPINION: It was a year ago this week that we began publishing Near Field Communications World. A year on, we're sending out today's newsletter to more than 8,000 people and our website has served visitors from over 150 countries around the world. More
October 22nd, 2009
NFC set for take off in the Gulf
OPINION: The past fortnight has seen announcements of new NFC services from banks and operators in both Dubai and Kuwait. More
October 8th, 2009
It’s not only the technically savvy who like to pay by mobile phone
OPINION: Take up of the new sticker-based Redi Pay Bling mobile payments service by the customers of The State Bank of La Junta, a small Colorado farming community, has reached 80% in less than five months. More
September 24th, 2009
How much will consumers be prepared to spend with their NFC phones per transaction and overall?
OPINION: In most countries, the maximum transaction limit for a contactless payment is set low enough that only small items such as cups of coffee and bus tickets can be purchased. That may not, however, be what consumers want — and it could be leading to the potential revenues from NFC payments being seriously underestimated. More
Featured events
- NFC, Smartcard & Payment Fair 2013 • 18-20 June 2013 • Seoul, Korea
- GlobalPlatform’s “The TSM of Today and Tomorrow” workshop • 18 June 2013 • Madrid, Spain
- NFC World Congress 2013 • 24-26 September 2013 • Nice, France
- NFC & Mobile Payment workshops at Apps World 2013 • 22-23 October 2013 • London, UK
- Cartes 2013 • 19-21 November 2013 • Paris, France
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