Touch me
The chaps at Berg and Touch have produced some interesting work that does a lot to push perceptions of RFID and NFC beyond access and payments. Check out the videos:
Immaterials: the ghost in the field from timo on Vimeo.
Finance companies and mobile operators are investing considerable time and resource into finding a business model for NFC – however the tipping point will only come when the right handsets integrate NFC for the right reasons.
In the UK right now we’ve got these two NFC handsets to choose from…
…they’re a bugger to get hold of and rather uninspiring. But they worked when used in trials by O2, Orange, Barclaycard and Oyster. We integrated the O2 trial into the O2 sponsorship of Wireless Festival two years back – scanning the NFC handsets to offer VIP benefits at the event. See details here.
It will probably take Apple to adopt NFC in their next gen iPhone to push Nokia, LG and HTC etc. into action. But when the moment comes it won’t be long before we all wonder how we lived without it.
Our phones are already becoming our computers – soon they will also be our wallet, our security pass, our car keys, our store cards…