Technology : Near Field Communication - An Overview

What is NFC?

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

Key Benefits of NFC:

NFC provides a range of benefits to consumers and businesses, such as:

• Intuitive: NFC interactions require no more than a simple touch
• Versatile: NFC is ideally suited to the broadest range of industries, environments, and uses
• Open and standards-based: The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards
• Technology-enabling: NFC facilitates fast and simple setup of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
• Inherently secure: NFC transmissions are short range (from a touch to a few centimeters)
• Interoperable: NFC works with existing contactless card technologies
• Security-ready: NFC has built-in capabilities to support secure applications

Comparison with Bluetooth:

NFC and Bluetooth are both short-range communication technologies which are integrated into mobile phones. As described in technical detail below, NFC operates at slower speeds than Bluetooth, but consumes far less power and doesn't require pairing.

NFC enabled Handsets:

NFC handsets currently are widely used in Japan, but Juniper forecasts massive growth in North America and Western Europe. The research firm expects NFC to be a $110 billion business by 2014, with one in six mobile phone users owning NFC handsets.

• The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the latest Google reference handset and is now shipping in the UK, with release in the US set to follow in early December. The handset runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
• Samsung has begun shipping the Galaxy S II Android 2.3 handset. An NFC version of the phone has been available since launch in Korea, but is only just starting to appear in other markets, via Orange in Europe and AT & T and T-Mobile in the USA.
• The BlackBerry Curve 9350, BlackBerry Curve 9360 andBlackBerry Curve 9370 were announced in august 2011 and are now shipping.