Near field communication (NFC) will be launched in SA soon to complement the mobile-based solutions available on the market.
This is according to French-based Dominique Paret, Phillips` innovation and emerging business semiconductors technical support manager. He spoke to ITWeb while on a visit to SA recently.
Paret says the NFC won`t overtake technologies like Bluetooth, but will complement them.
"NFC is a wireless connectivity technology that enables convenient short-range communication between electronic devices," says Philips Semiconductors SA GM Vic Ritson.
"The network communication is automatically initiated without the user having to configure the set-up where the primary device, a PDA or cellphone, acts as a smart key to gain access to the chosen services," adds Ritson.
NFC has evolved from radio frequency identification (RFID), says Paret, but the main difference is the type of communication between devices.
RFID is one-directional communication between a reader and a card, whereas NFC is bi-directional between two reader devices. However, the distance between the two devices is limited.
"Unfortunately due to worldwide regulations, the NFC`s maximum distance of communication is around 12cm," says Paret.
NFC`s biggest strength is that no set-up procedure is required, as the devices have to be within range of one another, says Paret.
This may raise security issues, but Paret says the security options are up to the application companies, as Philips only offers the connection.
NFC uptake in SA?
Roger Lilley, business development manager at Philips Semiconductors, says NFC has a lot of potential in the South African market.
"South Africans are generally very quick to adopt new technologies and our current infrastructure won`t limit this adoption," says Lilley.
In Europe, all the structures are already in place in terms of public transport, so changes to adopt NFC will be expensive, he says.
However, SA is on the threshold of adopting new things like the Gautrain, which will need a ticketing system, and the minibus recapitilisation will call for some kind of electronic fare system, he adds.
By December, at least four cellphone makers will have released NFC-equipped cellphones, not affecting the size of the mobile devices, as the NFC device is tiny, says Lilley.
It is estimated that by 2009 at least half of all handsets will have NFC built into them, says Ritson.
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