Inside Secure supports new Kovio RF Barcode ready NFC tags

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Inside Secure supports new Kovio RF Barcode ready NFC tags

Inside Secure has announced that it now supports the Kovio RF Barcode ready NFC tags in its Open NFC protocol stack. Okay, that may be a bit of a clunky headline, so allow us to explain why this is big news and what it means for the adoption of NFC on the whole. The overall goal of NFC tags has been to allow them to become very cost effective, especially for retail usage. The concept that has been flying around over the last few years has been printed NFC tags that use printed silicon to achieve mass market penetration at a fraction of the cost of conventional NFC tags.

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Sony Xperia S NFC smartphone launches 2nd quarter

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Sony Xperia S NFC smartphone launches 2nd quarter

While at CES, we hit up the Sony booth to see their couple of new NFC smartphones, which included the Sony Xperia S. Whereas its stablemate, the Xperia ION (read Nozomi), has been announced to launch on AT&T, the Sony Xperia S is yet to have carriers announced. However, we took a sneak peak under the cover of the Xperia S and saw that the NFC smartphone has an AT&T SIM card lurking inside. Whereas that is far from conclusive proof that the Sony Xperia S will launch on AT&T, it does suggest that it is probably very likely that Ma’Bell will get its hands on the svelte HSPA+ Android phone.

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Proxama scoops Cambridge Wireless start-up award for NFC work

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Proxama scoops Cambridge Wireless start-up award for NFC work

There are certain firms NFC Rumors keeps an extra special eye on and Proxama is in that group. It isn’t that other firms don’t have innovative ideas, but is rather the fact that Proxama is constantly challenged to come up with campaigns and developments for different sub categories of the NFC ecosystem such as NFC mobile wallets, NFC apps and NFC smartposters and ad campaigns. The products they release to the market are always well done, and with each incremental project Proxama gains experience in a different NFC space. Just to try it out, Proxama even invented an NFC based murder mystery who dunnit game earlier this year. It’s that type of ingenuity and curiosity for different challenges that has earned Proxama a very respected place in the NFC universe.

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Learn how to build an NFC app at NFC Bootcamp

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Learn how to build an NFC app at the NFC Bootcamp training programs from OTA training

NFC isn’t new to the world, however, it is new to developers and consumers. With the untapped potentials that are associated with NFC development, training is a massive gap required to introduce experienced developers and newbies alike to code innovative apps. Well, we said “is” but really that statement should be “was”, thanks to the NFC Bootcamp. NFC Bootcamp is traveling the US and putting on training sessions in multiple cities training devs on how to develop NFC apps.

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Samsung announces Secu-NFC Chip, combines NFC IC with Secure Element

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Samsung announces Secu-NFC Chip, combines NFC IC with Secure Element

It’s a busy week at CARTES and Samsung just outed its new Secu-NFC Chip, which will no doubt cause some stirring within the industry. The new Samsung Secu-NFC Chip combines an NFC controller and a secure element into one unit allowing various advantages over current ICs. The secure element is the storage area in an NFC phone where personal and sensitive data is securely stored. That storage area isn’t directly accessible through your NFC phone’s operating system and secure elements generally have tamper proof features that ensure the memory locks up if someone attempts to access personal information without proper authentication. What makes Samsung’s announcement notable is that their new SENHRN1, or Secu-NFC Chip, combines both the NFC chip and secure element into one efficient chip.

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It’s a good time to be in the NFC IC market says ABI research

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It’s a good time to be in the NFC IC market says ABI research

ABI Research has another report out that focuses on wireless connectivity and suggests that NFC IC manufacturers are in for a boom when they tot up their year-on-year sales at the end of 2011. Most of us have a Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi direct capable smartphone these days. ABI says that in some markets adoption has hit 100%. However, NFC is the new kid on the block and provides a huge growth area for IC manufacturers.

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NXP Working on 10 NFC tablets and 90 NFC phones

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NXP Working on 10 NFC tablets and 90 NFC phones

If ever there was any doubt that NFC tablets were heading our way NXP squashed that misconception at 4G World a couple of weeks ago as Jeff Miles Vice President Mobile Transactions Worldwide at NXP announced that NXP was currently working on over 100 NFC devices that was made up of 10 NFC tablets and around 90 NFC phones. We have some video of this announcement we will put up on the site within the next week or so. However, this shows that tablet manufacturers are starting to see NFC as a must-have feature to be competitive.

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HTC Amaze NFC Android phone heading to AT&T

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HTC Amaze NFC Android phone heading to AT&T

NFC Rumors has learned that AT&T is planning to add the HTC Amaze to its growing list of NFC capable smartphones within the next few weeks. The HTC Amaze has already been on T-Mobile since October 10th, and it now appears that AT&T wants in on some of the well specified HTC Amaze action for its own network. However, like every other NFC smartphone that goes on Ma’ Bell, it is not clear at this point whether NFC will be enabled at the time of launch. AT&T has disabled Near Field Communication chips in every NFC phone so far, but rumors are suggesting the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus may be changing things over at the number two MNO.

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BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 & BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 outed

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BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 and BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phones getting ready to launch

It isn’t like we didn’t know that the BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 and BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phones were getting ready to be released, but it’s always nice to get some confirmation from BlackBerry. Surprisingly, it came on the company’s dev blog, which isn’t protected by a login. It’s here that RIM announced that the BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 and BlackBerry Bold Bellagio 9790 NFC phones. The reason RIM felt the need to announce the upcoming NFC phones we have known about for sometime is to give some details to devs about the screen resolutions.

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U.S. Cellular launches BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone

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U.S. Cellular launches BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone for free on contract with a new activation after a $100 rebate

U.S. Cellular are launching the BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone for as little as free after a $100 mail-in rebate for new activations on contract that also purchase a data plan until November 20th. For U.S. Cellular customers who already have an account, the Blackberry Curve 9350 can be had for $49.99 after a mail-in rebate. The BlackBerry Curve 9350 NFC phone is available and can be purchased online or in-store now.

The U.S. Cellular BlackBerry Curve 9350 is an NFC phone, but…

There is no mention of NFC in the U.S. Cellular press release that announces the BlackBerry Curve 9350 on their network. This isn’t too surprising as NFC won’t be fully useful until RIM releases an upcoming update which will fix some issues that BlackBerry devices have had with NFC. The update is also said to enable the Secure Element that will allow NFC payments to be conducted. Since smaller regional carriers like U.S. Cellular are not part of Isis, they should allow open NFC traffic over their networks, which is a great reason to support regional MNOs.

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Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE NFC phone to hits the States?

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Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE NFC phone to hits the States?

A welcome surprise just came about as the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE NFC phone through the FCC. This version of the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE is a GSM phone, so we can pretty much guarantee that if it’s US bound it is heading to AT&T for their newly launched LTE network. Most of the details on the FCC label are unfortunately in Korean so we can’t grab too many details about this NFC phone. However, if NFC is onboard like it is with its Korean cousin, we then have the issue of AT&T disabling it at the software level as they did with the normal Samsung Galaxy S II.

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T-Mobile will have NFC turned on in Samsung Galaxy S II NFC Rumors Exclusive

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T-Mobile will have NFC turned on in Samsung Galaxy S II NFC Rumors Exclusive

We have received exclusive information from a reliable source that suggests that the T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II will have its NFC turned on. This is great news for consumers and NFC in general, that there will be yet another NFC super phone available in the US. There were some doubts as to whether T-Mobile would enable NFC in the Samsung Galaxy S II after the company disabled NFC in the BlackBerry line up and AT&T turned off NFC on its Samsung Galaxy S II variant. We already gave an exclusive a week or so ago that T-Mobile is planning on bringing at least five and up to eight new NFC smartphones to market this year. Now we know that the Samsung Galaxy S II will rock NFC as it was intended to. Although both AT&T and T-Mobile are part of Isis, it appears that T-Mobile is taking a very different approach to NFC than AT&T, which we must say that we are relieved to see. However, that could be short lived if AT&T gets its way and is able to acquire T-Mobile. We won’t be keen on Isis while its model is based around control as it is, but credit where credit is due in regards to the Samsung Galaxy S II and NFC T-Mobile is doing the right thing for its customers.

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NFC Samsung Galaxy S II gets a price and date on T-Mobile USA

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NFC capable Samsung Galaxy S II gets a price and date on T-Mobile USA

If you have been waiting for the NFC-capable Samsung Galaxy S II to hit the pink provider known only as T-Mobile USA, your wait could soon be over. Today the carrier announced a launch date and pricing for the long-time anticipated superphone. Expect to see the T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II hit the carrier’s website on the 10th of October where you can pick one up for $229.99 after $50 mail-in-rebate, which by our highly sophisticated calculations means you should be ready to part with $279.99. That’s practically day light robbery.

Samsung Galaxy S II T-Mobile variant NFC phone specifications

What the T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy S II has on other variants is that lovely 4.5-inch display and the 1.5GHz dual-core processor. We have known the specifications for the T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy S II for a while, but if you need a refresh see them again after the break.

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Samsung SHV-E120L NFC phone outed, dropping down in Korea this month

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Samsung SHV-E120L NFC phone outed, dropping down in Korea this month

Another day, another NFC phone rears its head and this time it’s the Samsung SHV-E120L that has caught our eye. The team over at PocketNow spotted a post on a Korean website with specifications for the Samsung SHV-E120L NFC phone a couple of days ago. This new phone eerily echoes the specs of the LG LU6200 NFC phone and appears to be geared up to compete on a mano-y-mano basis. Samsung is finally embracing NFC in more and more models and the Samsung SHV-E120L is no exception. As more and more handset manufacturers are committing to NFC phones Samsung appears to becoming more competitive in every market segment and doesn’t look like it’s about to give any advantage away to competitors.

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BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 NFC phone snapped in the wild again

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BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 NFC phone snapped in the wild again and coming to Telus very soon

We know we have shown you a photograph of the BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 NFC phone before, but this time BGR managed to catch a few shots of the upcoming BlackBerry, which will join the 9350, 9360 and 9370 NFC phones in the BlackBerry Curve Touch line up of budget NFC phones. It seems that RIM is attempting to saturate the market with a plethora of phones that have a slight variation on each other. This may explain why they are getting not-so-hot sales results from the BlackBerry 7 OS devices.

With more Curves and Bolds than you can shake a stick at, we all just want to know where the QNX NFC phones are. If you are in the market for a small budget NFC phone that’s probably going to cost less than $100, we doubt it can hurt any to add another to the pile.

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BlackBerry Bold 9790 NFC phone photographed

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BlackBerry Bold 9790 NFC phone photographed, could launch before the end of the year

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 is a smaller cousin to the 9900 and 9930 NFC phones, and until now we have known this phone as the Bellagio. They may not be the first shots we have seen, but BGR managed to get a few shots of the device today when they had the chance of some hands-on time with the BlackBerry Bold 9790 today.

Specifications of Blackberry Bold 9790 Bellagio NFC Phone

It is early days, and the rumored specifications are just that at the moment. However, specifications we are hearing about are subject to change but look a little something like this: The BlackBerry Bold 9790 Bellagio has a TFT Capacitive Touchscreen Display that’ll output at 320 x 480 pixels display resolution for your viewing pleasure, naturally she’ll run on Blackberry 7 OS and she is said to be quick.

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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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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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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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Is the HTC Incredible S the next Google Wallet enabled NFC phone, it just passed through the FCC

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The HTC PH85110 better known as the HTC Incredible S NFC variant passes through the FCC, will it be the next Google Wallet ready phone?

We found out over the weekend that the HTC Stunning was actually the HTC Incredible S with an NFC chip. We were told that the phone was a China-only event and yet just a couple of days ago, the HTC PH85110 stealthily winged its way through the FCC. It wouldn’t be the first time an OEM has gotten FCC approval and not used it. Just take the Nokia N9 for example, but we have a sneaky feeling the US could see the HTC Incredible S NFC variant soon. HTC has said that it would bring us an NFC phone by the 4th quarter, and perhaps the HTC Incredible S NFC variant is what they had in mind. The phone appears to be a GSM variant and if the phone does get put on a network in the States, it can only be with AT&T or T-Mobile and we would imagine that HTC would want the phone to be Google Wallet capable to build in some value. However, both T-Mobile and AT&T are part of the Isis NFC payments joint venture and this will be a very interesting test case to see whether the MNOs will allow Google Wallet on their network and could even ensue some legal challenges from Google if it doesn’t.

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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 Curve Touch 9380 video confirms NFC rumors

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BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 video confirms NFC rumors

A video of the BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 has surfaced on the German website MacBerry.de showing some NFC skills, which confirms it is an NFC capable device. However, just yesterday we reported exclusively that BlackBerry NFC phones are shipping without the kind of support needed to truly utilize near field communications and are giving users a poor NFC experience. We speculate that this is why some carriers are blocking NFC at the software level for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930. The BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 can be seen below in a silent video which does indeed confirm that it has an NFC chip on board. We see in the video that the NFC is tuned on and off, but there is no demonstration of the BlackBerry Curve Touch 9380 actually reading an NFC tag. What is really interesting is how small these keyboard-less BlackBerry phones really are. It shows that RIM is heading in a different direction to woo the masses. In the video, we see the phone compared for sizing against the current Curve and Storm which shows that RIM got the memo that thin is in and that less is sometimes more.

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HTC Stunning NFC phone is just incredible, HTC Incredible S to be accurate

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HTC Stunning NFC phone is just incredible, well a HTC Incredible S with an NFC chip to be accurate

The HTC Stunning is actually the HTC Incredible S. When is beautiful amazing? Most of the time, but not in the case of the HTC Stunning which was announced this week by HTC as it partnered with China UnionPay to bring NFC payments to Chinese consumers. We thought we had a new phone in the offering but alas the HTC Stunning is, in fact, an HTC Incredible S touting an NFC chip. It’s not that there is anything wrong with the HTC Incredible S, it’s just we have a penchant for new shiny phones that come laden with NFC rockstar goodness. It turns out that the “Stunning” was a slight mistranslation from Chinese to English for the word Incredible, and we fell for it hook, line and sinker. Oh well, you live, you learn. Sarah Perez over at TechCrunch spotted the HTC Incredible S mistranslation and saved us all from embarrassing ourselves further!

Nonetheless this may mean that we could expect to see the HTC Incredible S turn up in other parts of the world showing off its new NFC chip set in the next few months which doesn’t suck one little bit. We’ll be keeping our ears firmly fixed to the ground for that rumor to start circulating. HTC, like us, seems to think that mobile payments will become an essential feature in smartphones and the HTC Incredible S with an NFC chip stuffed inside may be the first signs of all new HTC NFC superphones to come. There are already whispers out there that HTC has an Ice Cream Sandwich NFC phone slated for the fall and we should forget that HTC just this last week trademarked CLOSECONNECT for its NFC apps and we doubt that the company would have trademarked that name just for a HTC Incredible S with an NFC chip.

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Vodafone dishes out UK NFC goodness with the BlackBerry Bold 9900

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Vodafone dishes out UK NFC goodness with the BlackBerry Bold 9900

Vodafone UK have started to sell the BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC phone bringing Brits more choice in NFC handsets as from today, and can be had for the bargain price of free on contract

Yes, you saw that correctly – the long awaited BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC phone hits Vodafone UK today. Vodafone has become Britain’s first mobile network operator to offer RIM’s flagship handset and it’s available for free as long as your strap yourself to a £41 per month ball and chain contract. That particular plan gets you 1,200 minutes of talk time, which very few people will use, and 500MB of data, so don’t use it for YouTube too often or they’ll have you for overage charges.

However, if you don’t like that Vodafone contract, you can always head over to Amazon UK and pick up a BlackBerry Bold 9900 NFC phone for around  £519.99 or $846.75 (ouch) and get whatever plan you like. However, the Amazon BlackBerry Bold 9900 is not going to be heading out in the post until August 25th and you’ll probably have to pop down to either the Halifax for small loan, or that guy you met in a pub that routinely harasses your mates because they went to a loan shark also so they could have a new phone off contract.

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