Broadcom views NFC key for revenue

Chipmaker, Broadcom views NFC key for future revenue. Speaking to Reuters today at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Michael Hurlston, Senior Vice President for Broadcom’s wireless LAN business, indicated that incorporating near-field technology onto its (WLAN) WiFi, bluetooth combo chip was becoming a priority. He stopped short of giving a projected to market date but did give some background on Broadcom’s reasons for jumping on the NFC wagon.

Industry overview: Broadcom views NFC as an emerging market.

Taking a pragmatic stance, Hurlston identified a few stumbling blocks that the NFC industry had to settle on.“Security issues have roughly been worked out, but there are still debates as to where does the security go. Does it go on to the SIM card or does the security go on the phone platform itself,” he said. We know that so far the secure element is being housed on the phone as is the case of the Nexus S. However, the Isis joint venture who wants to control and charge for transactions will likely want sim based security. He also commented on the market’s growth being linked to how quickly mobile payments would be embraced by retailers and banks to become pervasive.

“We think it’s going to be a very big deal.”

Broadcom views NFC  to be a very big deal

“We think it’s going to be a very big deal,” said Hurlston, referring to how Broadcom views NFC. Broadcom views NFC (near-field communications) wireless technology to be a main revenue driver in coming years. Coming from the world’s largest wireless local area network chipmaker, who faces increasing competition and reduced profit margins due to competitive chip prices on the market today. Those are strong words and just go to show the commitment NFC is getting from industry leaders across most sectors. It also further shows the sheer investment the NFC industry is benefiting from. With Visa, MasterCard, Google & Citi already on the NFC  bandwagon in the U.S., it’s no wonder Broadcom views NFC as a must for its business model going forward into the next few years.