UPM RFID sells NFC tag and RFID tag to SMARTRAC closes in Q1 2012

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UPM RFID sells NFC tag and RFID tag to SMARTRAC closes in Q1 2012

The news UPM RFID is selling its NFC tag and RFID inlay business to SMARTRAC hit early this morning. Since then, we have been wondering about the industry impacts this sale could have. SMARTRAC manufactures RFID inlays for electronic passports (e-passports) and contactless credit cards (e-payment) as well as for RFID transponders for public transportation applications. This year has been an acquisition year for SMARTRAC, who has also purchased Neology Inc. and KSW Microtec AG.

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A question of ownership of the secure element for NFC mobile wallets

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A question of ownership of the secure element with regards to NFC mobile wallets

A big question surrounding the wallet wars is concentrated around who owns the secure element. The focus is misplaced, if that is the place where MNOs and service providers are focusing their efforts. Yesterday we posted about Verizon’s statements about the Galaxy Nexus where they obviously either made an error in their statement or were intentionally attempting to mislead the media about why Google Wallet would not be allowed on the Galaxy Nexus.

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Galaxy Nexus NFC phone set to hit Verizon for $199 on 8th December?

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Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone set to hit Verizon for $199 on 8th December?

When the Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone is going to be released and for how much has been a mystery. However, recent leaks may have finally found the answers to those questions. The much anticipated NFC smartphone was caught on a flash ad that was released early by mistake, and it showed the Galaxy Nexus priced at $199.99 on a two year contract. That ad was seen on Android Police, Phandroid and Droid Forums. It was also reported by Engadget, which suggests it’s a little more definite than a simple anomaly. That same ad linked to a page that was unavailable and the URL and the title to that page contained a date of the 29th of November, which we think may be when the Ice Cream Sandwich NFC smartphone may be given its official release date.

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NXP creates NFC Android app for cultural art and tech show

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NXP creates NFC Android app for cultural art and tech show

NXP Semiconductors has teamed up with startup firm, U-Approach, and created an NFC android app that promotes cultural participation for the STRP Festival. The STRP Festival is one of Europe’s largest art and technology festivals, and this year visitors will have the ability to interact with exhibits using their NFC Android smartphone and the new app. After tapping their NFC smartphone against an exhibit, visitors can get detailed information about the exhibited artwork.

Frens Frijns, Director of the STRP Festival, commented, “As a cultural festival, we feature artistic and creative experiments with technology. We believe that the ‘Internet of Things’ is evolving into a ‘clickable world’. We are the first festival in the world to provide that experience in a way that helps people better understand the art while giving them the ability to share their own interpretation, introducing a new social dimension to art interpretation in the festival experience.”

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The Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry brings NFC payments to Spain

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The Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry brings NFC payments and NFC physical access control to Spain

Research in Motion has today announced that it is partnering with Telefónica Digital to create the NFC payments based Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry. This Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry partnership does not yet have a fully scalable NFC payments service and is for now being called a pilot that, if successful, will roll out in several international markets during 2012. It seems a little odd that the Telefónica Wallet is a BlackBerry only affair as it would have seem to make more sense for penetration and adoption that Telefónica would have wanted to create a cross platform solution. Perhaps BlackBerry is just the start of this project.

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Galaxy Nexus coming to Canada December 8th on Bell and Virgin Mobile

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Galaxy Nexus coming to Canada December 8th on Bell and Virgin Mobile

Yep, that’s right – the Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone is hitting Canada on Bell and Virgin Mobile December 8th. You can pre-order the Galaxy Nexus today. Pre-ordering the highly anticipated Galaxy Nexus NFC smartphone early ensures you are among the first to get your grubby mits on the NFC totting Ice Cream Sandwich device “as soon as it’s available” but that doesn’t mean you will have the device in your hands on launch day.

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Is the Motorola Droid RAZR the first Isis NFC phone?

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Is the Motorola Droid RAZR the first Isis NFC phone?

It was largely expected that the Motorola Droid RAZR would be an NFC phone but on launch there was nary a word about near field communication capabilities. The Motorola Droid RAZR was announced a couple of weeks ago with impressive specifications and a super thin set of dimensions that challenges anything on the market. But without NFC capabilities, we relegated it to the pile of smartphones you would regret purchasing come the middle of next year when NFC services really start to swing. However, it may not be completely without NFC capabilities.

Motorola Droid RAZR strip down reveals NXP NFC drivers

Engadget had Francois Simond (Supercurio) take a look under the covers of the Motorola Droid RAZR, and guess what he found? Yep, an NFC controller based on NXP’s PN544 chipset. In Engadget’s words, “the Linux driver is present, but hardware appears to be missing or misconfigured.” This gives us a massive clue as to what is happening with the Motorola Droid RAZR and it, of course, revolves around Isis. We would assume that if there was an NFC IC (NFC chip & antenna) present, it would have been found. The NXP chipsets are somewhat easy to spot within NFC phones when you take them apart.

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Tomorrow’s Android 4 Events with NFC, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Droid Razr

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Tomorrow’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich Events with NFC sprinkles, a touch of Samsung Galaxy Nexus and a generous portion of Motorola Droid Razr – ready for your fill?

It seems as if we have been waiting forever for the Ice Cream Sandwich event. It was at Google IO in May of this year that the search engine giant started tormenting us with the sweet, sweet promises of Ice Cream Sandwich loaded with near field communication sprinkles. Since that date a lot has changed. NFC as an industry has changed, with new sticks in the mud like Isis and new potentials like Light Squared actually starting to get it together. Nokia has ruled supremely when it comes to NFC support and BlackBerry has limped into second place with NFC phones that can only read a few NFC tags. We have seen the iPhone launch with no near field communication support whatsoever and recently seen Apple sell 4 million devices in the first weekend. It’s a crazy world and progress always comes hard and slow.

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Motorola Droid RAZR render outed waiting to see if it is NFC

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Motorola drops a micro site showing the Motorola Droid RAZR render but doesn’t give any clues on NFC

Motorola released a teaser website today showing company owned renders of the Motorola Droid RAZR, but there were no clues about NFC being on board. On Friday, Motorola announced a couple of NFC headsets and we speculated that because there are currently no Motorola NFC phones that the Motorola Droid RAZR could come endowed with some NFC love.

Like a few potential NFC phones that are about at the moment, the Motorola Droid RAZR has an identity problem, which isn’t uncommon in the rumors circles. The phone has been called the Spyder, Spyder HD RAZR and now we all seem to have settled on the Motorola Droid RAZR. Motorola has now shown off its teaser site that contains images of the phone, but we still only have a few specifications that BGR said they had received which include a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 4.3-inch display of unknown resolution.

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