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NFC posts

Nokia 6216 Classic packs NFC for contactless payments

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 23rd 2009 @ 4:48AM

It's 2009 and we're still waiting for the Near Field Communication revolution. However, due to tough economic times and a lack of consumer devices, planned commercial NFC rollouts will likely be pushed into 2010. Still, we can add one more device to the NFC tally -- the Nokia 6216 Classic. The 6216 is Nokia's first handset with an embedded NFC chipset that communicates with NFC applications stored on the SIM. That little trick keeps the carriers happy while allowing consumers to keep their credit card info and contact-less ticketing and payment applications on the SIM for easy mobility between NFC devices. A good thing too, since this middling 3G candy bar with camera, FM radio, and microSD slot will be of limited appeal to most.

Read -- Nokia 6216 Classic
Read -- Economy, standards stand in the way of NFC

Visa rolls out its first commercial NFC payment system

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 9th 2009 @ 2:17PM

Nokia fulfilled its part of the bargain by rolling out its NFC-enabled 6212 cellphone last year, and it looks like Visa is now finally making the phone a good deal more useful -- in Malaysia, at least. That's where the company has launched its first commercial NFC (or Near Field Communications) payment service for point-of-sale transactions, which will let folks simply wave the phone in front of a reader to make a purchase instead of going to the hassle of swiping a card. What's more, it doesn't look like this is simply a limited trial, with 1,800 stores in the country ready to accept the magical payments out of the gate, and Maxis and Maybank on board to let folks easily access their credit account. Better still, Visa has also said that this move finally signals the shift from pilot programs to actual roll-outs, although it's unfortunately not being all that specific about the next few markets on tap just yet.

Qualcomm brings Near Field Communication to more mobile chipsets

by Darren Murph posted Feb 12th 2009 @ 8:29AM

As stellar as things like contactless payments are, short-range communications applications have generally struggled to gain adoption (Bluetooth notwithstanding). Qualcomm's hoping to change all that with its announcement that certain new products in its portfolio will arrive with NFC capabilities baked right in. The outfit's goal here is to "accelerate the commercial availability of mobile handsets featuring the short-range technology," but unfortunately, it has yet to publicly gloat about signing any partner deals with its Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets. We'll be keeping a close eye out at Mobile World Congress for any NFC inclusions, but honestly, we don't have a great deal of hope that any North American handsets will be in the bunch -- if there's a bunch at all.

GSM Association proudly endorses NFC and Carrier ENUM

by Darren Murph posted Nov 21st 2008 @ 11:59AM

The GSM Association has been gung-ho about near-field communications (NFC) for a good while now, but just recently at a meeting in Macau did it take the opportunity to officially proclaim its support for NFC and Carrier ENUM. As for the former, it's urging manufacturers to have NFC technology (which is most commonly used for mobile payment systems) in "mainstream mobile phones by mid-2009 by using the standardized single wire protocol (SWP) interface, which enables communications between NFC hardware and a SIM card." Furthermore, it gave a hearty thumbs-up to ENUM (previously known as Number Resolution Service), which is an IETF-sanctioned standard for converting traditional phone numbers into IP addresses. It also announced that a related service (dubbed PathFinder) was generally available to mobile and fixed network operators from NeuStar. All this sounds fine and dandy, but what we're really interested in is what these folks did in Macau after the business was settled. Lucky...

[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of ISOC]

Read - Official GSMA support for ENUM
Read - Support for NFC / ENUM

Rogers holds hands with RBC / Visa for mobile phone payment pilot

by Darren Murph posted Oct 30th 2008 @ 11:43PM

If you're tired of paying for random snacks and such the old fashioned way (you know, swiping your credit card and handing over your John Henry), Rogers Wireless feels your pain. While not the first mobile payment initiative to hit the Great North, this one has some pretty notable backers. Starting in mid-2009, Rogers, RBC and Visa will join together to allow customers "to pay for small purchases" so long as they're holding one of the "specially-equipped mobile phones that can be waved at Visa payWave-enabled checkout readers at select retail stores and quick-service restaurants in Toronto's downtown core." The pilot will utilize Motorola handsets outfitted with Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless chips, while Gemalto will be managing the transfer of credit card information from RBC to the secure SIM card. There's no word on plans beyond the trial, but here's hoping it does something more than just fizzle out.

[Via mobilesyrup]

O2 testing mobile wallet on London's Tube

by Sean Cooper posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 6:35AM

Combining an Oyster card, a Barclaycard Visa, and the NFC-enabled Nokia 6131, Transport for London hopes to stream passengers through its tunnels in a quick and orderly fashion. 500 testers have been flitting about the city for six months and nine out of the ten say they've enjoyed the ease of use, convenience and status of such fun tech. The tweaked sets have enabled the testers to use their existing travel cards, top up pre-pay cards, and even buy snacks while on the run. RFID hacks aside, we welcome any and all use of a mobile wallet system -- that Japan has enjoyed for some four years now -- to help ease those arduous and time-consuming treks into our pockets and reduce the always embarrassing display of pocket lint.

[Thanks, Daniel M.]

MasterCard fires up mobile payment trial in Canada

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 21st 2008 @ 9:02PM

Hey, here's an idea: let's trial phone-based NFC payment systems. Then, let's trial them again. Then let's trial them a few more times -- but let's not actually launch them on a wide scale so that they're usable, and let's certainly make sure they're not marketed heavily enough to garner widespread consumer interest. That seems to be the attitude financial institutions, manufacturers, and carriers are taking in North America, where countless tiny trials have popped up and died across the US over the past couple years; now, Canada gets in on the action thanks to MasterCard with an adaptation of its PayPass system. The trial, which only (and inexplicably) runs from now until November, loops in Bell Mobility will allow users to pay for $1.29 red blobs sold in sterile, all-blue convenience stores where ghastly silhouettes roam in the background simply by tapping their issued handsets against MasterCard's already installed PayPass terminals. Can we please just get a trial that turns into a commercial product this time, or is that too much to ask?

[Via MobileSyrup]

NFC Forum publishes two new specifications, most of us still waiting for even one

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 10th 2008 @ 11:59PM

Though NFC hasn't quite reached the penetration level required to make it a ubiquitous and critical tool like, say, Bluetooth or WiFi, the NFC Forum is still pushing ahead to make the short-range communication standard ever better. Two new specifications have been published for inclusion in the NFC ecosystem of protocols this week: Generic Control RTD and Connection Handover. Generic Control RTD is simply a way for one NFC-enabled device to tell another to perform a particular action; Connection Handover is where it gets interesting, allowing NFC to be used to establish a connection over some other technology (like Bluetooth) with a more complicated pairing procedure. As the NFC Forum puts it, that gives you the best of both worlds -- the ease of use afforded by NFC along with the higher bandwidth of a more robust protocol -- which makes it easier to use NFC to initate transmission of larger files. That's cool, but seriously, can we just pay for our train fare to start?

[Via Phone Scoop]

Nokia's 6212 with Bluetooth NFC: Let the pairing revolution begin!

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 15th 2008 @ 5:16AM

This is the day we've been waiting for. While the 3G Nokia 6212 classic doesn't look like much, what it lacks in style is more than made up by the genius of Bluetooth-enabled Near Field Communication. If you remember the video we showed you way back in March of 2007, the combo makes device pairing and transferring content like photos, video, music, calendar data, contacts, etc. as easy a touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, speaker, or headset like Nokia's own NFC-variant of the BH-210. It will also work with NFC payment systems. According to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications at Nokia, "NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings." You said it Jeremy, you said it. Expected to start shipping in Europe and Asia in the Q3 for about €200.

NFC-equipped phone surfaces at FCC... with Citi logo

by Darren Murph posted Mar 20th 2008 @ 6:28AM

We've handled handsets with unorthodox keypads before, but there's quite a bit more about this here device that's off-kilter than just a unique method of input. Discovered in the always unpredictable database of the FCC, the Mobicom-built mobile plays on the 850 / 1900 GSM bands and features a built-in MP3 player, file manager, speakerphone and accelerometer -- you know, for accessing icons by simply tilting the phone. The most astounding inclusion, however, isn't the integrated NFC technology that allows users to make payments on the go, but rather the unmistakable logo of a financial services company. Sitting front and center. On a cellphone. Something tells us this thing better print greenbacks if it hopes to seriously lure any suits away from their precious BlackBerrys.

[Via PhoneScoop]

ETSI finalizes NFC standard

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 1st 2008 @ 12:27PM

The GSM Association has been rearing to go for a while now with its Pay-Buy Mobile initiative with the ultimate goal of making contactless payment more the norm than the exception, but naturally, the GSMA isn't the only standards body that wants in on the action. ETSI -- the European Telecommunications Standards Institute -- has just decided on the final piece of what will ultimately become Europe's NFC standard. It seems the little matter of communication between the NFC circuitry and the phone's SIM was the holdup, and now that it's settled, the GSMA says it'll "[enable] mobile operators to prepare for the rollout of contactless payment services and other applications that make use of this flexible short-range radio technology." If there's one surefire way to redouble support for a new technology, it's by standardizing it -- now, let's just hope those standards start to cross borders.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Trains and burgers: Sprint launching NFC trial in Bay Area

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 21st 2007 @ 9:17PM

For whatever reason, phone-based contactless payment systems have been incredibly slow on the uptake stateside, while others -- those on NTT DoCoMo's well-received Osaifu-Keitai system, for example -- have had no qualms about turning their handsets into wallets. Every so often we catch wind of a trial in the works, though, which gives us hope that we'll eventually all be able to whip our cellies out of our pockets and clog our arteries in one deft motion. Case in point: Sprint has teamed up with Jack in the Box and San Francisco's Bay Area Transit Authority to offer fare and food payments with a tap of a phone in a trial that runs from January through May of next year. Strangely, the pictured phone appears to be the somewhat ancient A920 clamshell, so we're guessing Sprint is modifying the devices for the trial; Boost Mobile customers should be able to get on the action in some capacity as well. If you live in the area, ride BART at least once a week, and are willing to sacrifice that Touch for a trial phone, go sign yourself up -- just take it easy with the bacon burgers, k?

[Thanks, Allan]

Sony Ericsson's patent application for drag and drop NFC-style

by Sean Cooper posted Nov 20th 2007 @ 3:16PM

We're all about fanciful ideas, and Sony Ericsson's patent application for near-field communication (NFC) as a means of transferring files between devices certainly falls into that category. The application features -- at least in one scenario -- the ability to slide a file off your device's screen and have a neighboring device receive it as if you are simply handing a note across. Apart from issues like directional control potentially getting in the way -- and of course security -- this'd be an awesome use of this type of technology, and a brilliant way to cheat on tests. Now let's get that big touchscreen device to market, OK Sony Ericsson?

Sony, NXP get official with Moversa joint venture

by Darren Murph posted Nov 14th 2007 @ 3:49PM

Chances are, you had forgotten all about Sony and NXP's little initiative to cooperate on a NFC (near-field communications) standard, but the two seem to have finally worked out all the kinks and are ready to move forward. The joint venture, dubbed Moversa, will seek to "drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones," and it's already planning to develop, produce and market a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) that "incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications." Essentially, the duo is hoping to accelerate the adoption of integrated contactless support, which would enable users to make payments (among other things) easily via their handset. If you're curious about availability, we're hearing that samples should be shipped out in mid-2008, but commercial deployments aren't scheduled to happen until the end of next year.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

Bluetooth SIG adopts core version 2.1 +EDR

by Sean Cooper posted Aug 1st 2007 @ 12:57PM

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has signed off on the Core Specification Version 2.1+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). What does this mean for the average Bluetooth user? Delightful things, of course. The shiny new spec includes enhancements to pairing where the steps to pair devices are reduced with the task only taking seconds -- not a few fiddly minutes -- with some devices, like headsets, even supporting auto-pairing. There is also potential for the addition of near field communication (NFC) where devices are simply tapped together to automagically pair -- we're stoked to see this in Bluetooth-enabled photo frames, for example. Also on the table was an improvement to security to prevent various types of attacks and improved power management which will see battery life -- for some devices -- extended up to fives times the current performance. Not a bad day out, now let's get those 2.1 enabled devices rolling.

[Via PhoneScoop]