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Time Added to the Hourglass: XPERIA Ion uses NFC to Save Consumers Time
Posted by Cole Jones
February 08th, 2012 at 3:53 PM Filed Under Latest News
Time Added to the Hourglass: XPERIA Ion uses NFC to Save Consumers Time
Let’s chat it up about the Sony Xperia Ion, the LTE version of the Xperia S, available on the AT&T 4G network. Earlier this year in January, following CES we did a piece on Sony’s NFC speakers for Xperia NFC smartphones, which you can find here. With 4G compatibility, the phone can be used on GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ where LTE is not available on AT&T. The device is part of the new generation of NXT series (next generation) smartphones and displays a 4.6-inch 720p HD Bravia Engine screen. A 12MP camera that goes from having the device off to snapping a picture in 1.5 seconds by holding down on the dual-stage camera shutter button and 1.5 GHZ dual core processor with Android Gingerbread this quarter to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich during the second quarter. In holding the device, we notice the Sony Ericsson’s signature human curvature back (metal, not plastic like the XPERIA S) that allows users to grip the XPERIA Ion comfortably in their hands.
Narian compares NFC to Barcodes with infographic
Posted by Seth Planck
February 06th, 2012 at 1:36 PM Filed Under Latest News, NFC Infographics
Narian compares NFC to Barcodes with infographic
The NFC and Barcode battle still looms on, and Narian Technologies has been determined to settle the dispute once and for all with an insightful infographic. QR codes are finally being accepted everywhere with marketers barely putting out a piece of printed collateral without the aforementioned QR code winging its way along for the ride. However, NFC tags have many advantages that QR codes simply can’t attain. Narian builds a strong case for NFC in its infographic that points out the many advantages that NFC holds over barcodes of any description, but that doesn’t mean that barcodes are dead yet. Obviously we favor NFC tags, NFC devices and the ecosystem that is building around the technology. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t play devil’s advocate a little and point out some of the advantages that barcodes have over NFC. So, we will endeavor to give a balanced approach as we go through Narian Technologies’ infographic.
NFC Forum members show of NFC solutions in Frankfurt
Posted by Seth Planck
February 01st, 2012 at 2:43 PM Filed Under Latest News
NFC Forum members show of NFC solutions in Frankfurt
The NFC Forum and some of its members are showing off some NFC solutions over in Frankfurt, Germany this next week. But why? At the end of the day, NFC is just another secure little protocol that has the added ability to work with tags just like its older brother, RFID. It is pretty cool in and of itself, but really nothing to get overly excited about. Strange that coming from us? Not really. We have never been enchanted by the actual technology as it is nothing new or remarkable outside of the fact that a radio frequency can power a small chip and antenna with nothing more than a radio field. NFC operates at 13.56 MHz. Data speeds range from 106 kbit/s to 848 kbit/s. NFC Tags only store small amounts of information, currently between 96 and 512 bytes of memory. Kind of a dry subject matter, eh? It isn’t that NFC isn’t an interesting technology, but it is hardly as bleeding edge as quantum computers and hadron colliders.
SITA Lab and Orange get together to trial NFC at airport models
Posted by Seth Planck
January 30th, 2012 at 2:46 PM Filed Under Latest News, Videos
SITA Lab and Orange get together to trial NFC at airport models
SITA Lab and Orange have recently got together to look further into the use cases for NFC for passengers, airlines and the security at airports. The thought of giving an NFC ticket at the airport is not a new concept. However, apart from a couple of airlines trialling NFC with stickers and apps, we are yet to see anything truly ubiquitous and usable for users across the globe. The SITA and Orange research project developed NFC apps for smartphones that allow NFC boarding passes, security check-ins, lounge check-ins and checked them out with real technology to show how NFC holds the possibility to streamline airport processes, improve security and generally make travel less frustrating for flyers. This is in part because IATA and the GSMA have developed industry use cases for NFC that cover check-in, security access, boarding and lounge access. NFC boarding pass information can be loaded securely to the travel wallet from online, over the air or at a kiosk.
Nintendo Wii U controller to rock NFC to enhance gaming
Posted by Seth Planck
January 27th, 2012 at 12:32 PM Filed Under Latest News
Nintendo Wii U controller to rock NFC to enhance gaming
NFC got another boost today as Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, announced that the Wii U controller would feature NFC “function”. The Wii U controller is set to be compatible with both FeliCa for its home audience and MIFARE for the rest of the world. The President of Nintendo even acknowledged that NFC “is expected to be widely used around the world in the near future.”
Galaxy Note has NFC onboard AT&T locks it, Ma’Bell’s Galaxy Note Fails
Posted by Seth Planck
January 26th, 2012 at 2:51 PM Filed Under Latest News
Galaxy Note has NFC onboard AT&T locks it, Ma’Bell’s Galaxy Note Fails
Just a couple of weeks ago at CES, Samsung told NFC Rumors that the Galaxy Note did not have NFC capabilities. We took a spin around the Android OS and at the software level at least, this appeared to be confirmed. However, Samsung has now done its own tear down on the LTE device and what do we see? Yep, NFC is there. The IC can be clearly seen and the back cover sports an NFC antenna. This means Samsung was either not telling the full truth at CES or their show staff had no idea what was going on. Samsung Tomorrow reports that the specs of the torn down device exactly match the version heading to AT&T. So what gives?
Duly Note[d]: The Galaxy Note is missing at least one very important “note”
Posted by Cole Jones
January 25th, 2012 at 12:27 PM Filed Under Latest News![Duly Note[d]: The Galaxy Note is missing at least one very important “note”](http://www.nfcrumors.com/wp-content/themes/FLER/includes/timthumb.php?q=100&zc=1&w=630&h=&src=http://www.nfcrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/post-nfc-samsung-galaxy-note.jpg)
Duly Note[d]: Something the Galaxy Note failed to “note”
The rumors were answered at CES about the new Samsung Galaxy Note LTE for AT&T. The smartphone-meets-tablet device, or “superphone”, definitely created something to talk about. The two-in-one is available in carbon blue and ceramic white with AT&T. The highly talked about 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen display crushes its competitors (HTC Titan and Nexus S) in size and appearance. The touch of 4G LTE is an added bonus especially for the U.S. market.
OpenWays launches NFC hotel key system without SWP carrier costs
Posted by Seth Planck
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:35 PM Filed Under Latest News, Videos
OpenWays launches NFC hotel key without SWP carrier costs with a little help from Nokia and NXP which can be added to existing hotel locks
OpenWays isn’t the first time we have seen an NFC hotel key system. If you remember VingCard, an ASSA ABLOY company launched a pilot in Stockholm last year. However, the emerging mobile network operator joint ventures and associated costs to firms that want to provision secure data over networks to secure elements has become costly at best. In essence, launching an NFC based company that needs to access a secure element has had costs added that prove too expensive for many firms to turn a profit.
Yale demos NFC door locks solutions at CES for Android, iOS and BB
Posted by Seth Planck
January 20th, 2012 at 4:30 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Videos
Yale demos NFC door locks solutions at CES for Android, iOS and BB
We have reported on Yale and their NFC door locks before. However, we have now seen the locks in action and have far more details about how Yale (an ASSA ABLOY company) plans to bring their solutions to market. The Yale NFC door locks are an exciting prospect because they represent quality products for access control that are built for consumers. Yes, later this year we will be able to cost effectively buy NFC door locks for our homes, offices, and anywhere else we would like to secure and use access control facilities.
Narian shows off NFC retail experience solutions at NRF show
Posted by Seth Planck
January 19th, 2012 at 5:16 PM Filed Under Latest News
Narian shows off NFC retail experience solutions at NRF show
Yes, the NRF show has just finished up and Narian Technologies was on the floor showing off its full suite of non-payment NFC services that help retailers maximize profits cost effectively. If you are an NFC enthusiast and haven’t heard of Narian Technologies we only have one thing to say to you – Have you been living under a rock for the last year or so? Narian is far older than a year old though, and led by industry expert, Einar Rosenberg. When Narian isn’t helping the top names in NFC develop new products, services or simply giving consulting services, the firm is hard at work developing and deploying its own full suite of retail services that use NFC to prevent lost sales and maximize profit in retail situations.
Open NFC stack supports Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Posted by Seth Planck
January 19th, 2012 at 11:48 AM Filed Under Latest News
Open NFC stack supports Android Ice Cream Sandwich
INSIDE Secure has had a busy week in supporting NFC based systems which now includes Android 4.0, or as we like to call it Ice Cream Sandwich, in its Open NFC stack. Google elected sometime ago to develop NFC based solutions with NXP, and so NXP chips and secure elements are supported straight off the bat. However, other semiconductor firms that have NFC based products need to add support for Ice Cream Sandwich and INSIDE Secure has done just that for devs with any hardware platform.
Kids going crazy for Activision Skylanders NFC game
Posted by Seth Planck
January 17th, 2012 at 10:03 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Videos
Kids going crazy for Activision Skylanders NFC game, shown off at CES by NXP
NFC gaming is becoming big and Activision is currently benefiting from this new craze with its Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure game that uses an NFC reader / writer and game characters that hold NFC tags. The whole concept of the game is that an evil overlord named Kaos is invading the Skylanders’ world and turned the characters into toys and banished them to Earth. Luckily, kids who own the game and portal (read USB based NFC reader/ writer) can get the characters back to the Skylanders’ home and help them defeat Kaos. There are battles, puzzles and opportunities to add strength and attributes to each character. You can also collect attributes for characters you do not own for if and when you do purchase that NFC tag based character.
Sprint Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper hands-on during private CES event
Posted by Seth Planck
January 17th, 2012 at 2:51 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News
Sprint Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper hands-on during private CES event
As you may or may not have heard over at CES, Sprint announced that it is going to carry the Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper NFC smartphones. Well, photographs and details have been very thin on the ground. This is especially true of the LG Viper, which wasn’t even present at the LG booth at CES. What many people didn’t know is that Sprint held a private event over at CES and we were invited. The Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper were there for some hands-on time and we had the opportunity to play a little.
BlackBerry Tag deployed already in OS 7.1 update for NFC sharing
Posted by Seth Planck
January 16th, 2012 at 11:53 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News, Videos
BlackBerry Tag deployed already in OS 7.1 update with NFC goodness all round
You have probably heard of BlackBerry Tag and its NFC capabilities. We popped over to the Blackberry booth at CES to see Blackberry Tag in action so we could see improvements made to the way the OS deals with NFC. Although we couldn’t see how the new 7.1 OS deals with NFC tags, which was a major issue when the NFC capable BlackBerry smartphones launched, we did see its beaming or sharing features in action. We must say that BlackBerry Tag worked flawlessly in the demo we received from Annu Dawar, who is a Product Manager for Research in Motion.
Sony Xperia S NFC smartphone launches 2nd quarter
Posted by Seth Planck
January 16th, 2012 at 1:09 PM Filed Under Galleries, Latest News
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.
Intel announces NFC support in Ivy Bridge chips
Posted by Seth Planck
January 09th, 2012 at 2:17 PM Filed Under Latest News
Intel announces NFC support in Ivy Bridge
We are here at CES and Intel has announced that all Ivy Bridge chips will support NFC. Ultrabooks have a massive presence at CES this year and Intel has thrown its weight fully behind NFC, and more specifically for payments in its Ivy Bridge chipset. NFC just got a boost beyond the reach of carriers and MNOs, which will no doubt spur a new line of innovation that extends beyond hardware and is very likely to change e-commerce forever. Intel announced that its Ivy Bridge chips will featured within 50 – 75 Ultrabooks hitting the market in 2012, and we can only expect this figure to grow as the year goes on.
Cirque adds its GlidePoint NFC trackpads to laptops at NXP’s CES booth
Posted by Seth Planck
January 07th, 2012 at 1:56 PM Filed Under Latest News
Cirque to show NFC laptop at CES NXP booth that uses an NFC antenna built into a trackpad
We have been following Cirque and their NFC products built into innovative form factors for sometime. The firm has built NFC antennas into screens and trackpads, but until now we haven’t seen an actual working prototype outside of a YouTube video – that looks set to change at this year’s CES. NFC has the ability to share information effortlessly, and building NFC antennas into screens and trackpads really starts to show how useful Near Field Communication is likely to be this next year when it is build into laptops, PCs and tablets.
Shots of AT&T LTE Samsung Galaxy Note outed, said to feature NFC
RumorPosted by Seth Planck
January 06th, 2012 at 2:46 PM Filed Under Latest News
Shots of AT&T LTE Samsung Galaxy Note outed, no official word on NFC but tipsters show a board that is rumored to be from the Note with an NFC IC onboard
These are official leaked shots of the jumbo sized AT&T LTE Samsung Galaxy Note. Last week Sam Mobile reported that it had proof that the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note would harbor an NFC chip. A recent trend with NFC smartphone announcements is to not feature NFC at all. AT&T and other Isis members have attempted to keep the NFC ability just until Isis is ready to roll, and hence we see a lot of NFC smartphones launching and have to wait until they get tear downs to see whether NFC is actually onboard.
Google Nexus NFC tablet to cost just $199 and come with a 7″ display?
RumorPosted by Seth Planck
January 05th, 2012 at 2:09 PM Filed Under Latest News
Google Nexus NFC tablet to cost just $199 suggests rumors
We reported a couple of weeks ago about Eric Schmidt’s comment to an Italian newspaper that suggested that Google was prepping a Google Nexus NFC tablet that would sport Ice Cream Sandwich. Schmidt told the newspaper in an interview that ”[In the] next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.” At that time we reached out to Google for clarification of what Eric meant when he made the comment and we hit the steely wall of silence from Google. Generally when we speak with Google we get responses pretty promptly with some pretty helpful information, so to not even get a no comment statement was a little odd.
Broadcom brings NFC and apps to 2 billion existing TVs
Posted by Seth Planck
January 04th, 2012 at 1:25 PM Filed Under Latest News
Broadcom brings NFC and apps to 2 billion existing TVs by converting them to Smart TVs
This morning sees Broadcom make an exciting announcement that is likely to change the way we use TV and, of course, incorporates NFC. We have seen the Boxee Box, we have seen Apple TV and we have seen Google TV and the Roku box. Many consumers are abandoning the airwaves in preference to connected apps on Smart TVs, but as yet there has been no NFC incorporated. That is set to change with this morning’s announcement from Broadcom, who are probably one of the largest semiconductor firms in the US.
VeriFone completes Point acquisition, NFC payments all around
Posted by Seth Planck
January 03rd, 2012 at 5:02 PM Filed Under Latest News
VeriFone completes Point acquisition solidifying the firm’s position in Northern Europe and also refinances some debt ready for NFC adoption by retailers
VeriFone appears to be growing larger and larger as today’s news announces that the firm has just completed its merger of Northern European payment gateway company Point. VeriFone has taken some stick lately when the expected NFC bonanza didn’t come in the 3rd quarter of last year. That fact is that NFC adoption by retailers is largely out of VeriFone’s hands as the wallet wars obstruct earlier deployment and therefore the need for NFC POS terminals. However, that isn’t preventing VeriFone from readying itself for the expected new NFC payments landscape as the firm continues to buy up competitors in strategic markets.
Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and an NFC New Year
Posted by Seth Planck
December 23rd, 2011 at 12:39 PM Filed Under Featured, Latest News
Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and an NFC New Year
Our team over here at NFC Rumors want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who swings past the site and wish them a great holiday season. It has been our first year and we have grown massively during that time because of your support for what we do. Over this year we have met some really great people, had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in great innovation and have been supported by our visitors and the companies who have come to embody Near Field Communication. We love bringing you the latest NFC news, adding our own opinion and starting conversations about the opportunities and challenges that NFC brings with it.
Verifone takes an NFC stock beating, perhaps unfairly
Posted by Seth Planck
December 21st, 2011 at 2:21 PM Filed Under Latest News
Verifone takes an NFC stock beating, perhaps unfairly, due to unrealistic market expectations
We all know who Verifone is if we are interested in NFC mobile wallets and NFC payments. They are undoubtedly the largest player in the NFC point-of-sale business globally, and they are involved in most NFC payment projects on some level in the very complex ecosystem. However, Verifone has recently taken a painful beating on its stock price, which we can see between December 5th, when it traded at $44 a share, to December 14th, when it had fallen to just $35 per share. Ouch! Their fourth quarter earnings call wasn’t even until December 14th, so something is happening in the perception of Verifone’s viability to turn a profit. We are not going to go into P/E growth and other associated investment indicators in this post; we want to concentrate more on why this has happened to Verifone versus the reality of the situation. This perception that investors are adopting also has larger scale impacts on the rest of the NFC industry and Verifone may just be the fall guy that kicks off something grander in scale.
Commonwealth Bank makes Kaching NFC mobile wallet official
Posted by Seth Planck
December 21st, 2011 at 12:13 PM Filed Under Latest News
Commonwealth Bank makes Kaching NFC mobile wallet official
We already knew that Commonwealth Bank in Australia was trialling the Kaching NFC mobile wallet app for the iPhone, but the financial institution has now gone live with its app for all customers. You have to hand it to Australia, they struggled to find the value chain and ownership model for NFC just like the rest of the world, aside from perhaps Japan. There were endless, fruitless NFC mobile wallet trials too.
PayPal tests NFC mobile wallet at a couple of Swedish retailers
Posted by Seth Planck
December 20th, 2011 at 8:24 PM Filed Under Latest News
PayPal tests NFC mobile wallet at a couple of Swedish retailers
We first reported in September about the PayPal NFC mobile wallet called PayPal Instore in Sweden, where the firm got together with startup Accumulate to test out some NFC retail therapy. PayPal have been vocally cautious about NFC payments, NFC mobile wallets and anything else with the “N” word involved. In fact, eBay CEO, John Donahoe, went as far as saying that NFC stands for “not for commerce” earlier this year. Some have gone as far to suggest that PayPal’s opposition is a corporate policy to play down the role NFC is due to pay in payments in the next year or so and more strangely stifle its own NFC mobile wallet efforts. However, that opposition hasn’t stopped PayPal launching an NFC app for peer-to-peer money transfers or from conducting NFC mobile wallet tests in Sweden.