Christmas app conjures up Santa with an NFC tap

US NFC developer TeamProjectsOnly has come up with a hi-tech and festive way to reward children for good behaviour in the run up to Christmas, using NFC phones and tags.

A new Android app allows parents to quite literally play the Santa card this festive season and use NFC to encourage children to behave well so they get a visit from the man in red on Christmas Eve.

The NFC Christmas App and a Santa Card

TeamProjectsOnly‘s NFC Christmas App comes with a special festive-themed “Santa Card” — a credit card sized NFC tag which parents can stow in a wallet or purse. Then, whenever their children need a reminder that Santa will be checking to see who has been naughty and who’s been nice, the card can be produced for the child to tap to an NFC phone. The app then launches a simulated online link to the North Pole and plays a motivational message from Father Christmas for the child.

“The magic happens when you tap the Santa Card on your NFC enabled smartphone and are connected to the North Pole Mobile Link,” says the company. “A message from Santa, or one of his North Pole friends, encourages your youngster to be good.”

The company points out that the beauty of using NFC is that it is interactive and tactile, and that the app will not display the videos without an NFC tap.

The NFC Christmas App is available now in the Google Play store in the US only. The US$2.95 price tag includes a 2012 NFCTapCard Santa Card mailed free anywhere in the continental US.

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