Near Field Communication and Nokia allow limitless cell phone possibilities.
By now, using your cell phone to send text messages, play music, take pictures, and even capture video is old hat. But how about swiping it over a spot on the wall and getting information about the restaurants in the area? Or going up to the checkout counter at a store and swiping it over a Visa logo to pay for your purchases?
That's the kind of functionality Near Field Communication (NFC) can bring about. Circuitry inside the cell phone exchanges information with a corresponding paper-thin 20-cent sensor that can be hiding behind a logo on wall, a picture frame--pretty much anything.
That sensor can be "locked" so that's it's read-only and the cell phone can't affect it, or it can communicate with the cell phone and get information from it, say a picture you have stored that you now want to transfer to your printer or your PC. The transfer happens in a matter of seconds, and without wires.
At ShowStoppers on Monday night, Nokia's Gerhard Romen, Head of NFC Market Development in Nokia's Emerging Business Unit, was on hand to demonstrate the technology with several new Nokia phones announced earlier at the CES show.
He showed the technology performing an image transfer, and a secure credit card payment (complete with access to payment history and accounts).
The technology can also be used to give information to users. For example, say you're attending a basketball game. As you come in, you might see an info spot for NFC-capable devices. There, you might be able to get a map of the stadium, stats for the teams playing, or dates for upcoming games.
VIP season pass holders might get even more customized information or special offers. The technology can be tailored to make those kinds of distinctions, and serve up one kind of content to some users, and other content to others.
The technology has been around for a while, but it's only now getting more "real." The NFC Forum, a consortium of various companies which support the technology, issued its first four specifications in August of last year, and a three-to-six month trial is now under way for mobile payment in New York City. There, Cingular customers with MasterCards will get special Nokia phones to allow them to make payments at any retailer that accepts MasterCard PayPass.
Late in 2005, Atlanta played host to another trial, with Visa members this time, at the Philips Arena. Customers were able to make payments with their phones at concession stands in the arena, and to get information as well.
Looks like soon we may all have one more reason to try not to lose our cell phones.
For more up-to-the-minute blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation's largest consumer electronics show, visit PC World's CES 2007 Live Coverage Infocenter.
