BlackBerry NFC tag issues appear to be a thing of the past

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BlackBerry NFC tag issues appear to be a thing of the past

NFC tag issues have plagued the beleaguered BlackBerry NFC smartphones for some months now. You have probably heard the news that the Co-CEO’s over at RIM have stepped down from the firm today. Something that is ironical with that announcement is that BlackBerry issues with NFC appear to be a thing of the past and people are doing some great things with NFC tags these days, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Over at CES a couple of weeks ago we got to speak with one of BlackBerry’s NFC product managers who told us that he didn’t know of any problems reading NFC tags these days since the BlackBerry OS 7.1 update. He invited us to send over all manner of NFC tags and said that the firm would test them out in their labs. We may well hit up some of our friends at some NFC tag manufacturers and put that to the test as there are so many NFC tag types these days and it would be great if RIM tested them all in their labs.

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NFC development problems NXP/ Microsoft/RIM [Exclusive]

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NFC development problems NXP/ Microsoft/RIM [Exclusive]

Whispers have been getting louder all week about NXP Semiconductors, Microsoft and RIM. NFC is getting more pervasive and so are the rumors that echo around the halls of NFC Rumors HQ. There are whispers in corridors, the water cooler attracts a crowd and everything goes quiet if you enter a room. NXP, Microsoft and RIM have some issues on their hands and we have heard about them from some pretty direct sources. We have been sitting on these revelations for a few days because alone we didn’t feel they were strong enough for a post, but together they start to paint a picture of just how nascent NFC is and how uncooperative it is acting with major software and hardware giants.

We called the problems BlackBerry was having with NFC over a month ago, we speculated that a major OS company would make an announcement that it was supporting NFC, but we didn’t hear about NXP until this last week. Want to know more? Of course you do, that’s why you clicked on this post.

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HID Global partners with BlackBerry, NFC smartphones now open doors

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HID Global partners with BlackBerry, NFC smartphones now open doors

We have covered a lot of BlackBerry NFC phone news here at NFC Rumors, but very little of it has had a practical use in the real world until today – HID Global and Research in Motion announced they have partnered to enable HID’s iCLASS digital key system on BlackBerry NFC smartphones.

“This industry first is an important milestone in the deployment of mobile access and identity solutions using NFC technology on smartphones,” said Dr. Tam Hulusi, Senior Vice President with HID Global. “We will continue to innovate in the delivery of secure identity, as NFC-enabled smartphones represent a complementary new platform that we believe will expand the access control market and our online card services business while improving user security and convenience.”

“NFC technology will enable many new and exciting capabilities for BlackBerry smartphones and we are very pleased to be working with HID Global to be the first to bring a host of secure identity and mobile access control capabilities to NFC-enabled smartphones,” said Andrew Bocking, Vice President of Handheld Software Product Management at RIM.

It was only yesterday we reported about the HID Global pilot program that has been running at Arizona State University. In that pilot, the company had enabled NFC smartphones to act as NFC keys for user access in certain University areas on campus. With the BlackBerry announcement, HID Global will be able to activate any access control system that uses the company’s iCLASS SIO.

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BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone delayed, was due to be released today

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The BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone launch has been delayed after it was originally due to be released today

Sprint will not be launching the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone today as originally scheduled and announced. A Sprint representative told Engadget that the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone would not arrive until next month. Phone Arena, where the story initially broke, received an anonymous tip which suggested that the little Curve would in fact make an appearance on the Now Network on October 2nd. So, if you have been holding out for a super cheap NFC phone, it looks like you’re going to be waiting a little longer.

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Canadian BlackBerry owners will get NFC payments app thanks to Payfirma

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Canadian BlackBerry owners will get NFC payments app thanks to Payfirma

NFC payments will hit Canada for BlackBerry owners in the form of the Payfirma NFC Mobile Payment app that will allow Canadians to accept payments right on their phones using a Square type app. The company has just launched its non-NFC version and has committed to launching the near field communications payments version next.

It looks like the NFC capabilities of recent BlackBerry NFC smartphones is going to be put to good use in Canada thanks to Payfirma and its upcoming BlackBerry NFC Mobile Payment app. It was a month ago that Payfirma launched their iPhone app and now they are back with a Mobile Payments app for BlackBerry phones that have recently been released. BlackBerry phones that support NFC include the BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9930, all three new variations of the BlackBerry Curve, and the rumored Bellagio is also reputed to include some NFC goodness. The next iteration of Payfirma’s Mobile Payment app is promised to have NFC Payments built straight in.

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Popular NFC News this week

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Top popular NFC News August 22nd – August 28th

It’s been a busy week in NFC and we wanted to bring you the headlines consolidated into an easy to navigate list.

• Want a Verizon NFC smart phone $50 cheaper?
• The First WIMA NFC USA Applications Products & Services Congress
• NFC Payments USA to Bring Industries Under One Roof for NFC
• We are giving away an NFC hotspot graphic we developed for one of our projects
• Samsung due to announce an upgraded Samsung Galaxy S II LTE Super phone at the IFA show?
• 4G World’s Special Event: NFC Summit
• A US Samsung Galaxy S II variants image has leaked ahead of Tuesday’s press event
• Samsung Nexus Prime NFC phone confirmed by Samsung in cease and desist legal letter
• How to enable NFC on the Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9930 with leaked OS update
• HTC Holiday to be an Android NFC phone?
• NFC is enabled on your Nokia, now what? Start by downloading Xchange NFC app from the Ovi store!
• Radio Shack getting ready to accept Google Wallet NFC payments
• Thales launches NFC cryptographic hardware security modules (HSMs) software for mobile payments OTA
• Pick up the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone on Sprint for just $79.99
• TazTag’s  NFC tablet, the TazPad, is getting ready to launch for as little as $400 in volume
• Nokia announces three new NFC phones the Nokia 700, Nokia 701 and Nokia 600 all toting Symbian Belle
• Nokia Symbian Belle announced with NFC features for new Nokia 700, 701 and 600 plus many more Nokia smartphones
• Nokia Essence Stereo Headset that uses NFC to pair with Bluetooth announced
• Steve Jobs resigns as Apple’s CEO and an era that won’t be repeated comes to an end

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Want a Verizon NFC smart phone $50 cheaper?

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Want a Verizon NFC smart phone $50 cheaper?

Ok, well we embellished the title a little because LetsTalk.com are taking $50 off their normally advertised prices for all Verizon Smartphones until the 31st of August. We first saw this on BGR and thought our readers may want to take this offer up. The company has said it will be selling the BlackBerry Bold 9930 on August 31st and that means you can get a sweet NFC smartphone cheaper than going directly to a Verizon store if that is your penchant. If you have read our posts from yesterday, you will know that we reported that CrackBerry had found a way to re-enable the NFC in the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and with LetsTalk pricing being cost effective, as it is another $50, off isn’t going to hurt any.

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How to enable NFC on the Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9930 with leaked OS update

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How to enable NFC on the Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9930 with leaked OS update

We reported a couple of weeks ago that Verizon was turning off NFC in its version of the BlackBerry Bold 9930. Most mobile network operators are, in fact, selling BlackBerry’s flagship device with NFC turned off at the software level so Verizon’s decision was no big surprise. However, we know our readers that wanted a BlackBerry Bold weren’t keen on the device having the NFC crippled by mobile network operators. We had a trusted source tell us that the near field communications experience wasn’t too great and the software wasn’t yet developed to support as many features as mobile network operators would have liked to have seen for a user’s first NFC experience. To cut a long story short, there are thousands of BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC-enabled phones now in circulation that don’t have the ability to read tags or other associated capabilities.

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Pick up the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone on Sprint for just $79.99

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Pick up the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone on Sprint for just $79.99

RIM trotted out some new NFC phones today, one being the BlackBerry Curve 9350. We already knew most of the specifications on this phone but it’s always nice when it gets official. We’ll get to the specs in a few, but wanted to let you know that the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone already has a home on Sprint and will be available on Friday, September 9th for a rather affordable $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. As smartphones go, the BlackBerry Curve 9350 isn’t going to attract those who want bleeding edge specifications and probably sits in the middle of the market. We were struck by how similar the hardware specifications are between the BlackBerry Curve 9350 and the Huawei Sonic are, aside from one being GSM and one being CDMA that is. The BlackBerry Curve 9350 has siblings that work with other networks but we will get to them in another post.

BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone specifications

Other BlackBerry NFC phones have shipped with NFC turned off. The BlackBerry Curve 9350 on Sprint, however, is a functioning NFC phone.

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Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone hits Sprint for $199

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Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone hits Sprint for $199, no NFC mentioned in specifications

Sprint today set the BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone to live and even downed the price $50 on what they previously had said they would charge. So, as of today the CDMA version of the Bold 9900 will set you back only $199, although on the Sprint website it does say that the price is only good until September 8th. Just like every other MNO we see there is no word of the NFC feature. We have no official word at the moment that Sprint has blocked the NFC feature on the BlackBerry Bold 9930 at the software level, but it is appearing increasingly likely. Last week, we exclusively reported that the NFC experience on all BlackBerry devices that feature NFC was so bad that MNOs have decided to switch the feature off until RIM does something about it.

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NFC keyboard from KSI hits market

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NFC keyboard from KSI hits market and makes keyboards desirable again

KSI NFC keyboard? Yes please! The keyboard has been around for a fair while now, and as of late, in the post PC world, we are living in what has lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. Tablets have moved away from physical keyboards, and as the trend of converged devices accelerates, the humble keyboard we have all grown up with has become a dated commodity. Well, that is until now. Here at NFC Rumors, we love contactless technologies. We also have a penchant for biometric technology and we are always thinking about security, so when we came across a press release from a keyboard company we didn’t expect it to embrace everything cool. The last keyboard we saw of merit was the Commodore 64 keyboard PC, which we loved mainly because of the retro styling and memories of playing with the C64 when it was new. Yes, we are that old!

Meet a seriously capable NFC keyboard from KSI

What’s better than an NFC keyboard? An NFC keyboard that can also come with biometrics security and a sensor system that can lock your computer when you leave it, of course! Okay, well the KSI-1700 keyboard doesn’t come standard as an NFC keyboard and that is an option that can be added. The options available are quite staggering and include RFID, SonarLocID, HID, biometric fingerprint scanners and, of course, NFC. KSI doesn’t sell keyboards directly to consumers and tends to bulk sell their keyboards to larger corporations.

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BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone hits Verizon for $250

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BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone hits Verizon for $250 avec 2 year contract

We knew that the BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone was heading to Verizon Wireless after a video was mistakenly posted to Big Red’s site a couple of weeks ago, but now it’s available to order.  The BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone will set you back $250 on a two year contract or a cool $510 if you like to freewheel it. Rumor has it that although the BlackBerry Bold 9930 is up for grabs online, there is no official word when it will hit Verizon and partner retail stores. However, a rumor circulating suggests it could come as soon as August 25th, so around ten days to wait. We don’t know whether Verizon plans to block the NFC capabilities of the BlackBerry Bold 9930 as yet, but if it’s an NFC phone you are after, you may wish to check this before signing up and laying down two and a half Benjamins. What we can tell you though is that there is no word about the BlackBerry Bold 9930 being an NFC phone on Verizon’s site, so make of that what you will.

BlackBerry Bold 9930 specs

Having the 9900 as its stablemate, a lot of the BlackBerry Bold 9930 specifications are the same. We jotted down the notable ones after the break.

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BlackBerry Bold NFCGate: NFC experience very poor [EXCLUSIVE]

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BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC software is half baked and has exceedingly bad performance

NFC Rumors has learned that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 has issues when it comes to its NFC capabilities. Our source who wishes to remain anonymous and who is close to the matter, told NFC Rumors that AT&T and Vodafone may be blocking NFC on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 for reasons other than or on top of the company’s individual joint venture plans. It was just yesterday that we reported that AT&T in the US and Vodafone in the UK were blocking NFC at the software level and that there was no apparent reason for the move. At the time, the evidence appeared to point at NFC wallet control as the reasoning behind the move but we have since learned the rabbit hole goes a whole lot deeper than that. We are about to completely reverse what we reported just yesterday. We have been told that mobile network operators have server concerns about the NFC performance of the BlackBerry Bold and Curve.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC format and tag problems

Our source speaking about the BlackBerry Bold reported,”This would actually be protecting the consumer (and the NFC industry) from a really disappointing first experience with NFC.” So, what we can take from this is that the issue may be with the Blackberry Bold 9900, and the mobile network operators may, in fact, not want to have have an NFC phone with such poor capabilities defining what an NFC experience is. First impressions last, and it sounds as if the mobile network operators have higher standards than RIM in this area. Our source went on to explain further regarding the issues that could have contributed to the carrier’s decisions. As we remove our proverbial foot out of our mouths, it actually turns out that the carriers may well have been acting in the best interests of consumers after all.

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AT&T and Vodafone blocking NFC on the BlackBerry Bold 9900?

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AT&T and Vodafone blocking NFC on the BlackBerry Bold 9900 according to a rumor that’s circulating

If you are buying a BlackBerry Bold 9900 for its NFC prowess, beware. A pretty solid rumor has been circulating that AT&T plans to block NFC at the software level, so if that’s the feature you wanted, at this time the BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC phone is a fail.  Vodafone has already stated that it wouldn’t be supporting NFC in its BlackBerry Bold 9900 to begin with either. However, we have to ask – what is there to support? The phone already has the capability built straight in, on many occasions NFC doesn’t use any data to read or write a tag, or even to share a contact. If you purchase and own an NFC phone, we wonder what right the network thinks it has to shut off features. It just doesn’t make sense, or does it?

Q: Why would AT&T and Vodafone block NFC at the software level for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC phone? A: Control.

AT&T in particular have blocked features before, and have released them later on their timeline. We saw it with Bluetooth file sharing and we saw it with BlackBerry Bridge. Unfortunately, RIM hands this ability to mobile network operators on a platter allowing them to give and take features as they see fit, even if those features do not effect data usage. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the latest example of a mobile network operator cutting features because the features in question are not convenient for the MNO, which has a service that uses that feature coming to market next year.

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BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 NFC phones confirmed will ship this month

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BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 NFC phones confirmed will ship this month

It seems as if we have been waiting for what seems an eternity for RIM to finally and officially announce the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 NFC phones. It happened this morning in London at a BlackBerry press event where Research in Motion announced 7, count them – 7, new smartphones that included the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 NFC phones. The CDMA BlackBerry Torch 9860 will make its official debut in the US of A, destined for US Cellular and Sprint. RIM also announced the BlackBerry Torch 9850 GSM phone which is destined for AT&T, Rogers, Telus and Bell, SIMs and all. We also did get a tip off yesterday that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 would launch on T-Mobile USA on August 31st, but that is still unconfirmed.

BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phones specifications

We know pretty much everything about the raw specifications that the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 NFC phones will tote, but if you have been living under a rock for the past few months, here are the specs again.

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BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone shown off early thanks to Verizon mistake

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BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone shown off early thanks to Verizon mistake

If you have been waiting for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 NFC phone to hit Verizon Wireless, your wait could nearly be over. Thanks to an oversight on Verizon’s part, the company posted a features video of the 9930 in a place that should have contained the features video for the BlackBerry 9650. Unfortunately for Verizon, when you are dealing with a massive website error with media are bound to happen, and the best you can hope for is that not too many people notice. This time Verizon weren’t lucky and a sharp eyed viewer over at CrackBerry’s forum was on it like white on rice. The fact that Verizon Wireless is readying videos for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 show us that a launch is imminent and also sheds a little more light on some of RIM’s flagship phone’s capabilities. Just last week, we saw the BlackBerry 9930 come through the FCC and launch dates have been announced for the UK and Canada, but as yet nothing is official in the US. Perhaps that is set to change in the next week or so for the anticipated NFC phone.

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Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone clears the FCC, launching soon in US?

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Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone clears the FCC, launching soon in US?

The Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone just got the proverbial nod from the FCC to be sold in the good old USofA. So Canada, the UK and perhaps the US soon will have access to RIM’s flagship offering which adds another NFC handset to the market. We could see from the FCC filing that the Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone has a dual-band CDMA radio and a quad-band GSM tuner which lets us know we are not dealing with the Blackberry Bold 9900 NFC phone which only supports GSM. The 9930 is a world NFC phone that should work with most networks around the globe and that is what differentiates it from its 9900 brethren.

Which mobile operator networks is the Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone heading to?

Due to the nature of the Blackberry Bold 9930 NFC phone being a world phone, we can’t say for sure as it will work with any of the networks stateside. What we do know is that the fact it has passed FCC inspection suggests that RIM is readying to launch at some point in the not so distant future. What we can learn from an FCC filing is minimal because most pertinent information that you and I would be interested in has been stripped to keep secrets, secret.

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NFC Phones BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 Close to launch

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NFC BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 Close to launch

RIM unveiled its NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 early last month stating the phones were due to be released sometime this summer. Well, it’s summer and we are ready for some NFC goodness! Only yesterday we were commenting on the lack of released NFC Phones and how the projected numbers of sales seemed a little high for this year. We are sure the BlackBerry 9900 and 9930 plans to sell through a few units and as far as we know it will be the second NFC Phone in the marketplace for the United States, which is expected to account for half of all NFC-enabled phones sold for the next few years. The only difference between the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 is that the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9930 features CDMA support.

What we know the NFC BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930

We know pretty much everything about the raw specifications that the NFC-enabled BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 and 9930 will tote:

It has a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 640×480.
1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor.
8GB of internal storage, expandable via a microSD card slot.
Qwerty Keyboard with an optical trackpad.
HSDPA and HSUPA support.
WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR.
A 5 megapixel shooter around back with an LED flash that supports 720p video recording.
Near Field Communications (NFC) support.
BlackBerry OS7

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