KT launches iCarte NFC iPhone case in Korea

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KT launches iCarte NFC iPhone case in Korea, backs it up with the Olleh Touch NFC mobile wallet

The iPhone 5 may or may not get NFC this fall, but that won’t stop Koreans making NFC payments with an iPhone because KT has launched an iPhone 4 NFC iCarte 420k case. Not only has KT launched a near field communication enabled case for the iPhone 4, but it has done so with the approval of Apple under the “Made for iPhone” accreditation. The iPhone 4 case was developed by Canadian firm Wireless Dynamics Inc., and enables the use of transport cards and credit cards using near field communication while protecting the iPhone in its secondary function as a case.

Hyunmi Yang, Executive Vice President of Integrated Customer Strategy BU at KT said, “As NFC-enabled smart phone was launched recently, iPhone users are showing increasing needs for NFC services. So we became the 1st mobile carrier in the world to deliver NFC services to iPhone users by launching the NFC case.” She added, “As a global leader of NFC services, KT plans to provide more convenient and differentiated NFC services to its customers.”

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SK Telecom announces worlds first NFC on USIM SIM cards, adds NFC to phones

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SK Telecom announces worlds first NFC on USIM SIM cards, adds NFC to phones

SK Telecom has announced that it developed the world’s first USIM card equipped with an NFC chip, and it’s being calling “NFC on USIM“. If you aren’t familiar with USIM cards, they basically look and act like a traditional SIM card that your GSM mobile carrier supports in mobile phones. SK Telecom’s new USIM card allows a non-NFC smartphone to become an NFC-enabled if it has the right software. The problem with most smartphones in consumers’ pockets today is that they do not have NFC chips or antennas built into them, so they can’t interact with NFC tags or use any of the other cool functions that NFC facilitates, like peer-to-peer or emulation. SK Telecom are set to change that with their USIM card and potentially enable millions of smartphones with NFC capabilities, and that has to be a good thing.

So, if you have a smartphone and want NFC payments or to be able to collect coupons or to swap contact details, an NFC on USIM solution is heading your way. SK Telecom expect to commercialize NFC on USIM in October 2011 for enterprise customers and will open NFC on USIM- related Application Programming Interface (API) to outside developers to boost the development of diverse NFC-based services. So, in other words, by the first quarter of next year you may well be able to give your smartphone some NFC love if your carrier supports it.

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NFC iPhone conjecture ongoing

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iPhone NFC conjecture ongoing, Apple could struggle if it passes on NFC

It isn’t going to be long until we know one way or the other whether the iPhone 5 has NFC (near field communications) technology built in. We already know that Apple have developed  a lot of apps to potentially use NFC inside and outside of payments, so a formalized NFC payments market isn’t required for the iPhone to have success using NFC. Day in, day out here at NFC Rumors we share uses for NFC that extend far beyond payments and it is hard to believe that Apple doesn’t realize this and want to capitalize on the capabilities that the Cupertino company could bring to the technology.

Rumors are circulating that the iPhone is going to be available on Sprint (the only non-Isis carrier in the United States) and that the screen is of the sub 4-inch variety. See the BGR photo below that shows BestBuy is expecting a Sprint iPhone next month. Yet of late the expectancy of NFC being included in the iPhone has been quiet with most assuming that the issue has been put to bed and the expectations have been set that Apple will not support NFC this time around. However more so, now more than ever the iPhone is facing increasing competition and the iPhone 4 is no longer competitive on specifications or features that are offered in Android and other handsets. With Nokia banding together with Microsoft, the competition is about to get more ferocious than ever. Apple could sue every single handset maker out there and it still wouldn’t dull the consumer demand for more convergence and higher specified phones one bit.

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The South rises again for Android, the North holds iOS territory, Google Wallet smiles

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The South rises again for Android, the North holds iOS territory, Google Wallet smiles

The true (made up) story of Apple Fanboys and Google Fandroids battle for the US based on Jumptaps research

The civil war in the United States is long over and some could argue that the current dispute is between the political parties. However in reality the North and South are engaged in a bitter dispute surrounding which is the mobile OS of choice. The mobile marketing firm Jumptap recently did some research to see which States held the majority in usage for iOS, Android and BlackBerry mobile operating systems. Surprisingly the results presented a clear division between the South’s preference for the little green robot and the North’s taste for Apple’s offerings. Let the battle commence, pick your side, will it be General Jobs or General Page  you follow, the patents are out, round one. We are renaming the groups for the sake of this post, the Yankee’s are now the Appyee’s and the Confederates are now the Andrerates. BlackBerry supporters will be counted as neutral just like the OS’s home of Canada. We’re having a little too much fun with this post.

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Samsung Epic Touch 4G aka Samsung Galaxy S II launches September on Sprint, NFC?

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Samsung Epic Touch 4G aka Samsung Galaxy S II launches September on Sprint, NFC?

New Samsung Epic Touch 4G name news, but nothing on NFC. Not to confuse you, but the Samsung Epic Touch 4G, which was rumored to be called the Samsung Galaxy Within, is in fact the Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint variant. Got that? Good. The by now legendary Samsung Galaxy S II phone is “today” rumored to be launched in September, just before the iPhone 4s, which could also be known as the iPhone 5, is due to hit the market. Are all the manufacturers and mobile network operators just messing with us? It is expected to take the awful naming convention of its predecessor and be crowned the Samsung Epic Touch 4G, a name by all accounts that seems to rip the sexiness out of the slate all together. Ah, but a name is not everything.

Does the Samsung Epic Touch 4G come laden with NFC?

We have had three names so far, nasty photographs with the Samsung Epic Touch 4G touting a QWERTY keyboard which turned out not to be the Samsung Galaxy S II at all, and a plethora of FCC filings. All that and we still have no idea if the Sprint version of the phone will come endowed with NFC. After all this time waiting for this phone to launch and supposing that it may not have NFC, we have to ask – is the Samsung Epic Touch 4G going to be the landslide that it would have been a few months ago? The Samsung Epic Touch 4G was first shown at CES early this year and blew everything else away, and whereas it is still a very capable phone, it may be aging before it even launches if it doesn’t come with an NFC chip inside.

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NFC, Apple and PayPal, the perfect storm

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NFC, Apple and PayPal, the perfect storm, is the kind of thought that keeps Banks, credit card companies, Google and Isis up at night

It was suggested today that if Apple and PayPal got together for NFC payments, it could rip a hole in the banking subspace continuum. Even thoughts like these are blasphemous around the Google campus, because of the potential domination and disruptive force the two companies would create in their wake. Well, that and the fact that Google has opened up shop against both companies after being on friendly partnership with both. There hasn’t been such a potentially powerful partnership suggested since bread and butter, or salt and vinegar on chips. It seems such an obvious partnership, but it took an Australian named Rod Farmer, Director of Research and Strategy for Mobile Experience, at the AIIA in Sydney this morning to mutter such a concept in public. As the words left his mouth and hit the internet, one hundred thousand tech reporters around the globe realized it would be the “perfect storm for disruption” as Farmer put it, and immediately broke out into a cold sweat, and went and hid under the stairs.

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Apple, NFC, iPhone 5, iPad 3, rumors, blah, blah, and more blah

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Apple, NFC, iPhone 5, iPad 3, rumors, blah, blah, and more blah

Apple, NFC, iPad 3, iPhone 5…is it just us, or is it getting a little repetitive? Ever heard the phrase “there’s nothing to fear but fear itself?” We suggest it gets changed to “there’s nothing to Apple, but Apple itself” because at the end of the day all the speculation is just that, until we hear from Mr. Jobs. The frenzy field that emanates from Cupertino may block out the sun if it gets any more hyped, and the mastery of Apple is that it is generated because the company keeps quiet and plays dead until its ready to roll over and offer us a treat.

In a week where a bomber killed innocent people in Norway, the US is about to go broke, and Amy Winehouse passed away, we still found time for what seems to be a billion Apple rumors. Because that’s what’s important, right? Well, that and Rupert Murdoch getting a pie in his face because his media empire has been found to be sleazy. (Spoiler alert: Perhaps aside from the BBC and a few others, all mega media conglomerates are sleazy. It’s like gravity, it just is that way.)

We ourselves have written a myriad of articles on the business case for NFC in the iPad 3 and iPhone 5.

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No NFC tablets on the market despite Slate demand soaring, manufacturers slow to respond

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Slate demand soars but no NFC tablets on the market

There isn’t any commercially available NFC tablets in the market. That fact is surprising at best, and shockingly uncompetitive when you consider the opportunity that awaits a manufacturer that builds and deploys NFC tablets. The demand for this type of product transcends consumers and has an important part to play for business, in retail situations and beyond. NFC phones have been slow to emerge but NFC tablets have been nearly non-existent. TazTag has announced and shown off its TazPad but has yet to launch NFC tablets to the market. HP is rumored to be stuffing NFC chips within slates this year with whispers of a HP mobile wallet in the making, but as yet we have no idea when this may happen.

RIM’s PlayBook sales are languishing and only one tablet, the Samsung Galaxy tab, is making any impact at all against Apple’s iPad, which has sold a remarkable 29 million units according to Juniper Research in the first five quarters since launch. Apple rules the market with an iron fist and manufacturers need to compete with any differential and value added features possible if they hope to carve out some market share, and yet not one of them has brought NFC tablets to market. Apple is largely rumored to be bringing a new iPad to market this September, a full six months ahead of its normal schedule, which may or may not include an NFC chip and yet supposed competitors appear to fall further behind because they cannot compete with the ecosystem that the iPad lives in or the beautiful aesthetics that Apple consistently designs. Supporting the contactless technology and mobile wallets could be a new niche in the industry for an industrious manufacturer, but nobody has taken up the gauntlet to get an NFC tablets to market in the near future aside from TazTag.

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NFC sticker patent awarded to Blaze Mobile turns your non NFC phone into an NFC phone

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NFC sticker patent awarded to Blaze Mobile, turns your non-NFC phone into an NFC phone

Blaze Mobile has been awarded a patent for an NFC sticker that attaches to iPhones and feature phones and allows them to make NFC contactless payments. Blaze Mobile was one of the first companies to enter the mobile wallet business back when there were no mobile wallets. The grandaddy of mobile wallets announced on Friday that it had been awarded patent for an NFC sticker that communicates with applications within the phone and allows them to conduct contactless payments. The system is currently certified for MasterCard PayPass accounts, but on the company’s website the NFC stickers are listed as coming soon. If you are a regular reader of NFC Rumors, you will know that tap-to-pay transactions are set to explode over the next few years, and this NFC sticker may have just tipped the balance of power when it comes to enabling non-NFC phones to make NFC contactless transactions. At this time, there are very few NFC-enabled phones in the marketplace and the NFC sticker may well sell like hot cakes. Blaze is working on a text-message-based mobile wallet that would work with basic phones. Blaze Mobile said it expects to introduce the feature by the fourth quarter.

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Qualcomm adds to NFC iPhone 5 doubts

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Qualcomm adds to NFC iPhone 5 doubts

Qualcomm adds doubt to an NFC iPhone 5 by telling MobileBeat 2011 delegates that products featuring its mobile processors and software will not be seen until late 2011 or early 2012

It looks as if there is an ever dwindling possibility for an NFC iPhone 5 today. Raj Talluri, vice president of product management for Qualcomm has been speaking about mobile payments today at the MobileBeat 2011 conference. Firstly it is important to understand what it is Qualcomm does in respect to mobile phones. Qualcomm specializes in taking individual components that are built into phones like cameras, mp3 players, WiFi chips and so on and then they build them all onto one piece of silicon. This allows for minimal space to be taken up inside of our mobile phones which allows them to be super thin and energy efficient.

Qualcomm had been pegged as the supplier Apple would probably use for NFC components for an NFC iPhone 5

Super efficient all-in-one chips that do not take up too much space sounds like music to Apple’s ears. Qualcomm has been working on mobile financial transactions and the hardware and software that is required to fit in our mobile phones. NFC is part of that equation and it has been rumored that Apple has turned to Qualcomm to help them develop their NFC hardware platform.

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3G iPod Touch rumor claims that Apple may launch in September, NFC iPod?

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3G iPod Touch rumor claims that Apple may launch in September, NFC iPod?

Apple will launch a new 3G iPod touch in September, claimed a Dutch Apple blog named AppleSpot on Friday. Okay, let’s start off by acknowledging this is a long shot. If Apple did indeed bring a 3G iPod Touch to market, that could potentially cannibalize their iPhone market which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That doesn’t mean Apple wouldn’t do it though. We will state we feel this rumor has a 20% change of actually happening in September.

Let’s face it, the iPod is reaching the end of its long and legendary road. What we used to need an iPod for, we now have smartphones that are more capable. Apple brought apps to the iPod touch, but if you wander out of your WiFi network, you are back to the iPod being a unconnected device. In reality, anyone older than 18 who can afford their own cell phone bill is probably not going to want an iPod these days. So, how can Apple make the device that turned its fortunes around relevant again today? It would have to make its 3G iPod Touch a connected device.

A 3G iPod Touch could make sense for NFC
A 3G iPod Touch could be valuable to younger users as it would allow them to stream their music on the go with the iCloud service and Pandora. It would allow more savvy users to place calls over Skype or a whole host of other VOIP based services. To those who argue that Apple would never make such a device because of the wireless carriers, they did it with the iPad didn’t they? We have another theory that would allow for something else too…

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iPad HD rumor round up including NFC speculations

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Apple iPad HD rumor round up including NFC speculations

The chances of a new iPad HD being released are around 100%. When that bleeding edge slate will grace us with its presence, well that’s something that has a little more wiggle room. Over the last few months, the rumor mill has gone crazier then ever before with speculations and re-speculations on what the new iPad HD and iPhone 5 will and won’t feature. We ourselves, have joined with some conjecture of our own attempting to identify the potential and business case for Apple, including NFC in its new iPad HD and iPhone. In the last few weeks, rumors have become more prevalent that Apple intends to launch this new iPad HD this fall at the expected iPhone announcement.

iPad HD feature rumor roundup

Oh iPad 2, we didn’t really get to know you as well as we expected to. Your dual core processor was barely worn in and your anorexic design has certainly not lost its luster. The rumors of the next iPad really got into swing when upstream suppliers reported that the iPad 3 would begin to be produced in August. Since then, the rumor mill spits out a new set of rumors daily. Below, we list the popular rumors out and where we can add a little sanity, we do.

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Apple wins patent for a display integrating an NFC antenna

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Apple wins patent for a display integrating an NFC antenna

Today Apple won a patent that allows the company to integrate NFC antennas into displays. In the last few days, the patent office has awarded Apple 14 new patents but the [tooltip color="green" text="Near Field Communications"] NFC [/tooltip] subject matter caught our eye. The patent documentation illustrated the technology in an iMac, but the granted patent allows for a greater scope of Apple devices that have screens to make use of this technology. If you have followed Apple for any time you will know that many patents the company is granted disappear and never make it into production product lines. However, we feel we may well see this technology deployed.

The details surrounding the Apple NFC antenna patent

This isn’t a new line of thought for Apple and in fact, they have been filing NFC patents like accountants on crack for the last few years. In April 2010, the company filed an NFC patent that detailed controlling all manner of devices using an NFC-enabled iPhone that could communicate and control everything from a TV, Xbox 360 and the Apple TV remote. In this patent, we see illustrations of embedded NFC tags and antennas in the corner of a TV. The new patent builds upon that first patent by getting specific on the uses of NFC antennas in screens.

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NFC Phones roundup

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NFC Phones roundup

It has been an active few weeks of NFC Phones announced with even more rumors, and it is easy to forget what NFC smartphones we may actually have coming our way. Just a little over a month ago, the only NFC Phones that were actually for sale were the Google Nexus S in the US and the Samsung Tocco in the UK. Since then, we have seen the Nokia C7 / Astound released and we also learned it doesn’t have a secure element. So let’s look at the 14 NFC Phones that are available or could come our way in the not so distant future.

NFC Phones available today

The pickings are still slim for NFC phones that are available today, but the list is growing.

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NFC stunted downunda by ANZ Bank

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NFC stunted downunda by ANZ Bank

Strewth, and stone the crows! We bet Device Fidelity is calling ANZ Bank dags or flaming gallah’s this week. Okay, that is enough for our Australian linguistic lesson for this week at least. But really, in a surprising move the Australian ANZ Bank has concluded that it doesn’t like Device Fidelity’s MicroSD NFC solutions after they performed flawlessly in a recent field trial and gained widespread acceptance from consumers. We understand that the bank would have preferred an embedded secure element but from the results it does look like the Device Fidelity option was up to the task at hand. The study used Device Fidelity’s NFC cases wrapped around iPhones and worked in conjunction with Visa’s payWave readers in 50 local spots in Sydney and Melbourne for purchases that were no more than $100 Australian.

NFC is here to stay says ANZ Bank

The results from the ANZ Bank field trial are in, and they appear to be positive. Australians are ready to move to NFC mobile wallets and yet they still have no way to facilitate their desires at this time. The study found that out of all those polled, that 90% of participants in the trial found that the technology either met or exceeded their expectations. It also discovered that 90% would like to have the ability to pay with their mobile phones as they found it more convenient than having to carry a wallet around. 90% said they felt that adoption of the technology would be fast when handsets were available, and 80% said they would consider getting an NFC MicroSD if it was commercially available.

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Will Apple include NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3?

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Will Apple include NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3?

A couple of days ago we speculated that Apple may be including NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. The lack of credible, reliable rumors and evidence to support our leap of faith has bothered us ever since. For around a year now pundits have been speculating about whether Apple will be including NFC in the iPhone 5 and more recently in the iPad 3. For the second half of last year the press thought it was a certainty that Apple was launching an NFC iPhone 5, but early this year reports started circulating that Apple would not be supporting NFC until the iPhone 6. We wanted to look at all the rumors that have circulated regarding Apple’s plans for NFC in the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 to see whether any clues that would allow us to get a clearer picture of whether or not an NFC iPhone 5 or NFC iPad 3 is on the cards.

Rumors that have suggested there will be no NFC in the iPhone 5 or iPad 3

Most Apple NFC iPhone 5 and NFC iPad 3 neigh sayers, have reported between March and May this year. The information has either come third party through Apple or large scale manufacturing suppliers. If this is misinformation, it has worked. Many industry people now think there will be no NFC iPhone 5 until next year. The NFC iPad 3 rumors are too new, but it is presumable that if the iPhone 5 doesn’t get NFC nor would the iPad 3 if indeed it is due to be released at the same time. We have tracked the main reports that suggest that the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 will not have NFC and they appear to emanate from just three sources.

Berstein Analysts: “Apple’s next iPhone, said to be called the 4S, will not have the mobile payment support through NFC (near field communication).” – May 16th, 2011

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