NFC turns on Xmas lights in Cambridge UK with celebrities help

NFC turns on Xmas lights in Cambridge UK with celebrities help

Hit the UK, head east until you get to East Anglia then swoop up a little until you hit Cambridge – if you get there by 17.00 GMT on Sunday, you will see Christmas lights being switched on using an NFC smartphone and app. Not only that, but you will see the Christmas lights being turned on by one Sheila Ferguson from the Three Degrees. It’s not everyday you see that, right? It may not be everyday you want to see that, or if you are more tender years, you maybe saying “Who?”

So, marketing is at play here and it’s the type aimed squarely at educating people about NFC. It’s not as if people can actually turn on their own crimbo lights with an NFC smartphone and some C-list celebrities, but it’s good publicity nonetheless. What’s hard to believe is that Orange has chosen the Samsung Tocco NFC smartphone to highlight this ability. The Samsung Tocco NFC smartphone was kinda hum-ho when it was released eons ago, and let us tell you it hasn’t gotten any better in the months that have past. In fact, the old red button that was used to light the Christmas lights might be more advanced than the Samsung Tocco NFC smartphone. Oh well, the kids will like it and they already know about NFC anyway.

Samsung Tocco is a poor choice to make consumers want an NFC smartphone at Cambridge Xmas light ceremony

A Galaxy Nexus or Samsung Galaxy S II would have been more alluring. We would have even accepted a BlackBerry Bold 9900 over the almost defunct Samsung Tocco. Nonetheless, Orange are sponsoring the event which will see three stages hosting local bands all day and then the ceremony at night which will see Sheila Ferguson tap her phone against an NFC reader to light up Cambridge’s Market Square and beyond. So, for those Brits who are still saying “near field what?”, they may soon find out if they plan to be at the Cambridge Christmas light switching on ceremony.

All we need now is for the NFC UK joint venture to do a demonstration on New Year’s to show how they are messing up NFC payments through their need for control and other minor celebs to hold an NFC smartphone and Bob’s your uncle.