Near Field Communication (NFC) technology makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to make transactions, exchange digital content, and connect electronic devices with a touch.
A standards-based connectivity technology, NFC harmonizes today’s diverse contactless technologies, enabling current and future solutions in areas such as:
- Access control
- Consumer electronics
- Healthcare
- Information collection and exchange
- Loyalty and coupons
- Payments
- Transport
Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimetres. Present and anticipated applications include contactless transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a “tag”.
Comparison between NFC and Bluetooth
| NFC | Bluetooth | |
| Network Standard | ISO 13157 etc. | IEEE 802.15.1 |
| Network Type | Point to Point | WPAN |
| Range | < 0.2m | < 10m |
| Frequency | 13.56 MHz | 2.4–2.5 GHz |
| Set-up time | < 0.1 s | < 6 s |
There is a rumor saying that iPhone 5 is one of the several devices that will shipped with NFC-enabled smartphones and probably released in year 2012.
Android 4.0 the just released version includes new features called Android Beam that equips Android device with NFC communication.
Google Wallets is a mobile payment solution released by Google that uses NFC to complete the tedious mobile payment process just a single touch.
Services in cities and countries that employed NFC technology
| Singapore | Mobile payments:MasterCard, DBS Bank, StarHub, EZ-Link, Gemalto |
| Malaysia | Maxis FastTap |
More about NFC (http://www.nfc-forum.org/aboutnfc/)
