NFC now a reality
What is NFC I hear you say?
NFC is short for "Near Field Communication"
This is an electronic payment system for smart phones that communicates with the new EFTPOS Terminals being rolled out by banks into retail channels.
Essentially, you are able to have all your credit card details and personal information stored on your mobile smart phone using an App. Just like you can simply "flash" your chipped credit card at a retailer now and the payment is deducted quickly and automatically, NFC via a mobile wallet will take this even further giving the consumer control over a number of credit cards or accounts. This clever technology will eventually mean there will be no reason to carry a wallet full of credit cards or cash, and once again the humble mobile phone becomes even more entwined and entangled into our lives.
Last year in May, I said this new technology would be introduced in a short period of time to Australia, and now it is a reality. We are already using "Chipped" Credit Cards for swipe payments and the new NFC technolgy is now starting to appear in Smart Phones this year.
Google isn't the only one developing Apps and NFC for payments, as Apple is also rumoured to be developing the same type of technology for their popular iPhone.
The rexently launched Google Samsung Galaxy Nexus Smart Phone has a smart chip included to allow the use of NFC, and HTC have just launched the "Velocity" smartphone in Australia with NFC included.
I welocome your thoughts about NFC payments, and eliminating the need for a wallet full of cards and cash? Will we also carry our ID in our smartphones? No need for a driver's licence? Are we safe? is Big Brother watching?
There are many questions around this technology, but at the end of the day I believe most of us will be using Near Field Communication (NFC) on our smart phones to make purchases.
Australians are often the first to embrace new technology, so I feel we will jump on board with NFC too.
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