This year will see the emergence - on newer devices at least - of a new way for users to interact with their surroundings through their mobile phones. NFC, standing for Near Field Communication is a short-range, wireless technology that enables 2-way data communication between devices close to each other...and by, “close”, we’re talking about 4 inches.

 With Google having implemented NFC in the latest version of their mobile operating system, Android (version 2.3, ‘Gingerbread’), along with building the technology into their latest Google Phone, the Nexus S, and the other big mobile players such as Nokia, Apple and RIM – the latter two having already filed NFC-related patents – all working on implementations, consumers will start to see new mobile services emerge around this technology. 

From nfc-forum.org (http://www.nfc-forum.org/resources/faqs/): 

Jupiter Research has projected that up to 700 million NFC-enabled mobile phones will be sold by 2013, representing up to 25 percent of the market at that time (November 2008). Jupiter Research has also projected that NFC Mobile Payments will exceed $30bn by 2012 (September 2009)

A big focus – commercially at least – of NFC is currently on mobile payments where your device emulates a payment card - much like the Oyster Card used here in the UK by Transport for London (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14836.aspx). However, what interests me, in a more general use-case sense, is the way NFC will change the way users interact with their mobile devices and other consumer electronics and – something that is only now beginning to see some uptake in the UK through the use of 2D barcodes (eg. QR) – the use of tagging for discovery of and interaction with services, either simply receiving information from any tagged object, such as data about itself or the surrounding environment (in reader/writer mode)... or also sharing information, for example for use in location based services and social networking, and exchanging data between devices such as address book information, photos, etc (in peer-to-peer mode)

With the proliferation of NFC technology in newer devices (not only mobile phones but these will certainly be the method through which consumers interact with it) we will start to see a clear enabler when it comes to the development of that other much talked about field of technology nowadays, the Internet of Things. More places and objects equipped with data about themselves & services related to their use. Just think about a film poster at a bus stop that you can hold your phone up to and it fires up the information on cinemas close to your location showing the film, times and the ability to quickly book tickets – delivered to your phone and scanned upon arrival. 

What’s the beauty of a technology like NFC? For me it’s the ability to be ‘invisible’. With something like a QR code the user has to fire up an app that will scan it, they have to interact with the app to open up the camera so it CAN scan in many cases. Then, of course, you have to position it so the code fits in the given viewfinder, etc, etc. Now, ok, maybe that doesn’t sound so laborious and of course it isn’t. But it is a case of putting the technology in the users face, forefront and centre. Another example of the invisibility of NFC is in comparison to that other, popular wireless data transfer technology: Bluetooth. There’s no jumping-through-the-hoops requirements of device pairing with NFC. No ‘transfer by bluetooth’, no ‘pair device’...‘enter PIN’, etc. 

NFC hides the technology. The user interaction is seamless and immediate, making the experience more of a natural extension of the user, without the technology getting in the way and it’s this manner of quick & seamless user interaction, between devices and environment that I think will see NFC quickly embraced in the mainstream.

This short demo of NFC in action on the Google Nexus S phone perfectly highlights this -

Not to say that NFC has to be completely hidden and app-free. As these examples show, businesses such as restaurants and tagging services have already delivered early NFC apps to the Android platform, for specific use with their product.

Enable Table (restaurant app - US)

Taglet (tagging service - Japan)

Of course, it is very early days at the moment (even though NFC is not actually new itself) as there is a lack of NFC enabled devices but as I said earlier, we have just seen Google introduce it to its Nexus line and we will see its emergence in newer smartphones hitting the market in 2011...and then the rapid growth of services tapping into the potential of the technology. Given the current state at time of writing this article, it is of course fair to say that NFC is still pretty much on the horizon for use in education & educational institutions. However, with the recent upturn in interest in mobile tagging activity through QR codes, I think it’s fair to assume that by the time NFC is more widespread amongst users and devices, those working around the use of technology to support & enhance learning will already be equipped with the understanding of the potential activities and services that they could apply the technology to.