We Want Innovative Magic Applications!

The now well-established yearly meeting of the NFC industry is a good opportunity to scale the progress made on the path towards a global rollout of mobile devices able to perform secure transactions.

During WIMA 2010, everyone was talking about the future French NFC showcase in Nice. Almost all details are announced, almost all stakeholders are announced (cf. Smart Insights Weekly #09-19, 22, 37, 10-06, 08 and 12 among others), everyone is in the starting blocks, we are just waiting for the official launch date to have a multi-operator multi-bank multi-partner project to establish the success of NFC applications on a major city scale.

NFC has got some magic in the combination between contactless interaction, over-the-air communication, and user-friendly interface. The innovative technology has lead several companies to develop vertical applications in the NFC-related environment:

• Nexperts: event management, payment solutions, …
• Adamsoft: time and attendance, guard tour verification, …
• ITN: conferences organization,
• Connecthings: transport, tourism and culture.

Probably this vertical approach is an efficient answer to the slowness of NFC adoption due to issues between major players such as mobile network operators and financial institutions, preventing them to agree on a global business model. With a proliferation of vertical applications deployed by innovative companies, the NFC infrastructure is going to be more and more pervasive, and more users will become familiar with the technology and ready to adopt it.

Thierry Spanjaard

Chief editor

Smart Insights Weekly