Sequent launches CCS and brings NFC capabilities to apps

Sequent launches CCS and brings NFC capabilities to apps

The Sequent Software management team have formerly held positions within large corporate entities such as AT&T, Visa and VivoTech and been responsible for deployment of various NFC trials and technology. However, the firm has now released an NFC SDK, for lack of a better word, so that all app developers can add NFC to any apps. That CCS (Core Card Services) product includes the capabilities to add NFC payments, NFC ticketing, coupons and access control.

NFC hasn’t had the killer app as yet. In many ways that is due to the fact that the carriers have withheld NFC capabilities. However, another reason may be because NFC in and of itself is simply an enabling technology like Bluetooth. Although we get excited about NFC here at NFC Rumors, the technology is not the main event of a specific killer app which has to have functionality and capabilities that are useful and extend beyond simply the fact an app has NFC.

“A killer NFC app should do more than simply replicate a physical wallet on a mobile phone,” said Drew Weinstein, CEO at Sequent. “CCS enables app developers to build new apps with rich NFC experiences and also makes it easy to integrate NFC within apps that consumers already use and trust.”

The fact that Sequent has launched its CCS product may have well opened up the floodgates for developers to start adding features that allow the physical world and online world to collide on a myriad of levels. NFC mobile wallets that have hit the market so far have failed to impress the vast majority of consumers and the industry now rallies to find its major differentiators that appeal to consumers. Again, this process has been made far harder because of mobile network operators’ interests. The killer apps will not be NFC apps, they will be great standalone apps that support NFC with innovative uses of the technology and Sequent appears to understand this fact that has alluded so many industry players up to this point.

Poken embraced the “let’s not make it about NFC” sometime ago by deciding to only refer to NFC as “touch” and focusing on other elements of their services. However, the ability to use an app for physical world payments, access control and ticketing remains a dream of many industry insiders.

Sequent CCS well timed for success because of expected Apple NFC iPhone this year

The launch of Sequent’s CCS is well timed. Consumers are now beginning to become aware of NFC for the first time. But there is still a lack of apps for the technology outside of a few games and a myriad of NFC tag writing apps in the Android and BlackBerry marketplaces. Not only this but with Apple expected to launch NFC in its products this year, the opportunity to reach millions of consumers both over the iOS and Android platforms creates a large enough pool of consumers with NFC capabilities to inspire great app developers to put their thinking caps on and work out what that killer app may look like. We do not know how Apple with control its secure elements though, and this too should be a consideration for app developers.

The Sequent CCS product isn’t without risks to consumers though. Provisioned information is still set to sit on the embedded, SIM based or microSD based secure element. Whereas the secure element technology is tried and tested, the apps that have access to them need to be secure and water tight. So, in many ways the safety of the killer NFC app comes down to the quality of coding and variables taken into consideration by app developers. Nevertheless this was always going to be the issues no matter who released an all encompassing NFC platform that allows access to secure elements.  Sequent arguably has more experience in this field than most other NFC-based software houses globally.

We’d like to see apps that combine different NFC abilities, including access control, payments and loyalty. NFC is all about convergence of online and offline worlds, but thus far apps and services have focused on niche areas. In such a complex ecosystem, building multiple services into one app is less about the coding and more about getting everyone to play nicely together. This is what has stumped great NFC apps for multiple services thus far.

Sequent envisions its CCS NFC product to be used in a few ways which you can see below:

1. Banks can easily integrate NFC payments within their existing mobile banking app
2. Merchants can incorporate NFC payment, loyalty programs and coupon redemption within their existing branded mobile apps
3. Transit or theater apps can add NFC tickets and payment to their schedule-centric apps, making it easier to ride or enjoy a movie