David Birch, Consult Hyperion

There is a new communications technology about to enter the consumer marketplace: near-field communication (NFC). This is a short-range, zero-configuration wireless interface that has evolved from existing contactless identification and interconnection technologies. Products with NFC will dramatically enhance interaction between consumer devices. It delivers intuitive, straightforward and safe communication between compatible devices when they are brought within a few centimetres of one another: a wave or touch will establish a connection between devices so that a PC can transfer information to a PDA or a digital camera can send photos to a TV set. NFC can be thought of as 'interactive contactless'. Its origins make it compatible with current mass market contactless payment and ticketing solutions (such as Oyster cards in London, Visa cards in Malaysia and DoCoMo Felica phones in Japan) so that it has immediate traction, but it has significant additional capabilities.

There are two key reasons why NFC is so important. Firstly, the organisations behind NFC (e.g. Sony and Phillips) come from the consumer electronics world so NFC is going to be built in to many mass-market platforms. Secondly, there is a specific mass-market powered consumer electronic device that is in place and ready to exploit NFC to the hilt: the mobile phone. This paper describes the NFC interface and explains how it is being integrated into mobile phones and then looks at some of the (rather significant) business implications of this integration.

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