A couple of years back, I was listening to the late CK Prahalad at a NASSCOM event. He said that, with mobile phones becoming ubiquitous, in some years the wrist watch will become obsolete or be used only for ornamental purposes- it was hard to imagine such a scenario then but when I see the millennial generation, it does appear to be coming true already. Take a step forward. With technologies like NFC being seriously contemplated, the mobile phone is poised to become a true “one stop” for you and me- So, what is NFC and how does it make a smartphone “smarter”?

NFC is the acronym for Near Field Communication- a set of wireless technologies that operate within a range of 4 cm or thereabouts that makes the concept of the mobile wallet a reality. NFC was one of the topics of discussion at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress at Barcelona. Numerous operators as well as Google, RIM and Visa have incorporated NFC enablement into their roadmaps.

To understand the true import of NFC, consider this- you can now with a mere swipe of your phone make payments at super markets, access buildings and get information. You would be able to simply touch your NFC smartphone at gas stations, ticketing kiosks andeventually maybe at ATMs to transact without having to open your wallet or keying in numbers.   BMW has indicated their plans on making their next generation cars come equipped with NFC enabled keys. Taking it one step further, if you are on a holiday and driving your BMW to the vacation spot, simply use your car keys to get access to your hotel room, charge for your meals and pool side drinks to your room by  tapping your NFC enabled key against the reader.

The possibilities are tremendous and exciting. Incidentally, I had written a post about the mobile wallet recently after reading Sam Piroda’s The March of Mobile Money. Interestingly, Pitroda filed his first patent on this idea as early as 1994- talking of tech soothsaying, that one is up there! What do you think?

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