Johannesburg, 05 May 2011
The new BlackBerry Bold smartphones unveiled by Research in Motion (RIM) this week are the first BlackBerry devices to be equipped with the much-hyped near-field communication (NFC) technology.
NFC is short-range wireless technology that enables mobile devices in close proximity to exchange data, and has been punted by many analysts as the technology most likely to drive growth of mobile commerce.
RIM announced earlier this year that NFC capabilities would be incorporated into the upcoming BlackBerry devices, and followed through on this promise with the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930.
RIM is also reportedly working on partnerships with banks and credit card companies in order to offer mobile wallet and mobile payment functionalities, although nothing has been confirmed as yet.
NFC can be put to use in a number of ways, including card emulation, reader mode and P2P mode. As such, a mobile phone with NFC can behave like contact-less card, can read radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for interactive advertising and can exchange information between devices and accessories.
Apple and NFC
Following the hype surrounding NFC and the potential the technology poses for mobile commerce, many were surprised when Apple released the iPhone 4 without any NFC addition.
The iPad2 was also released without NFC, raising the question of whether the technology is seen as unnecessary by some players.
According to reports, Apple has, however, already applied for a number of NFC-related patents and is expected to add NFC to its upcoming iPhones.
One reason for the delay could be attributed to the lack of a clear standard across the industry. At the end of February, however, the GSMA association of mobile operators finalised the specification for NFC-based mobile payment.
Need for standards
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute has also adopted the technical standards governing mobile NFC services.
“The completion of the core of technical standards removes a potential obstacle, enables mobile phone operators to prepare for the rollout of contactless payment services and other applications,” said a statement from the GSMA.
NFC hardware alternatives already exist in the market, ranging from stickers, tags, micro SD cards and others. Software developers have also released a number of applications that can interact with NFC add-ons.
In January, the first NFC Android applications appeared, and support for NFC was added to the Android 2.3 mobile operating system, Gingerbread. The Nexus S was also the first Android device to ship with the necessary hardware to support NFC.
Not the be all and end all
Despite the many pilot projects and phone manufacturers employing NFC, analysts say there are a number of obstacles to the widespread adoption of the technology.
Senior VP of mobile commerce for Sybase 365 Matthew Talbot says: “Not every handset is going to be able to support NFC for many years, and other alternatives face similar adoption issues in scale.
“Making the payment systems work requires the full ecosystem to come together, which means banks, mobile operators and merchants all co-operating and agreeing on terms.”
Talbot adds: “We'll continue to see it in closed-loop deployments for many years, but it won't become the global standard, the only mobile commerce entry point.”
In the meantime, NFC could simply complement existing mobile payment solutions such as smartphone apps, SMS, WAP and USSD protocols.
Share