Rants And Ramblings About Mobile Technology

Anders Borg writing about the fun and crazy world of mobile and Internet service technologies.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
NFC does Europe
European consortium formed for development of NFC applications describes the new 'Store Logistics and Payment with NFC' consortium. The name alone indicates this is a consortium with clear and serious goals to improve the handling of goods by the help of NFC.
Near Field Communication has many uses despite seeming technical shortcomings: NFC devices are often completely passive until they receive a radio beam, and then radiates at such a low effect that the receiving device has to be very close. The point is that NFC devices should not have to be powered through battery or other means, but rather use the effect of the received radio beam to power its own radio. They should also be very inexpensive to produce, as potentially every goods item might get an NFC tag. Also, the proximity "feature" makes it very hard to eavesdrop on an NFC communication.
Due to this, NFC can substitute barcodes, as well as provide means to handle identification of persons and goods in a secure way. The security bit is of course very important when NFC is used for payments, and I haven't yet seen that solved.
Quote: the 'Store Logistics and Payment with NFC' (StoLPaN) project aims to define open commercial and technical frameworks for NFC-enabled services on mobile devices.
Quote: expects to issue its first version of the business rules and technical requirements by the summer of 2007.
Wikipedia refrains from making any connections between NFC and RFID at all, which is weird.
Near Field Communication has many uses despite seeming technical shortcomings: NFC devices are often completely passive until they receive a radio beam, and then radiates at such a low effect that the receiving device has to be very close. The point is that NFC devices should not have to be powered through battery or other means, but rather use the effect of the received radio beam to power its own radio. They should also be very inexpensive to produce, as potentially every goods item might get an NFC tag. Also, the proximity "feature" makes it very hard to eavesdrop on an NFC communication.
Due to this, NFC can substitute barcodes, as well as provide means to handle identification of persons and goods in a secure way. The security bit is of course very important when NFC is used for payments, and I haven't yet seen that solved.
Quote: the 'Store Logistics and Payment with NFC' (StoLPaN) project aims to define open commercial and technical frameworks for NFC-enabled services on mobile devices.
Quote: expects to issue its first version of the business rules and technical requirements by the summer of 2007.
Wikipedia refrains from making any connections between NFC and RFID at all, which is weird.

