By now, you’ve probably heard that the soon-to-be-released Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) will have near field communications (NFC) capabilities.
If not, check out Eric Schmidt’s chat yesterday. He’s also rocking a Nexus S, confirming a rumor.
So why is NFC a big deal?
Its capabilities as a commerce device are pretty slick. Imagine bumping your phone to pay for something, instead of digging out your wallet, swiping, etc.
NFC finally fulfills the promise of Bluetooth from a decade ago. I remember when early Bluetooth advocates told the same story; at the time, it really seemed like a stretch, not so much anymore.
NFC is compatible with RFID so you can expect to use your phone to control IRL objects with chips (like this guy, minus the icky implant). RFID chips are used to track inventory, so there are loads of use cases for enterprises too.
Of course, this makes your phone all the more valuable to you, boosting the newish economy around recovering lost phones.
It’s a big deal. Much bigger than the Beatles on iTunes or Facebook’s not-email messaging system.
Find the comments.
Starting to seem like 2011 will be the year of NFC. Nokia is including NFC support in all its smartphones next year: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/18/nokia-says-all-of-its-smartphones-will-support-nfc-starting-next/This year’s C7 model will also get NFC support via a software update: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/15/nokia_nfc/
And Apple is rumored to be prepping NFC for the next (or maybe the one after) iPhone. Makes a lot of sense, awesome for users and developers, but fraught with privacy and security issues.