Extract from 2008 Winter Review magazine
Many products and devices will soon be NFCenabled, including credit cards as well as train tickets. But the mobile handset is the first target for NFC applications. Operators are the primary customers for handsets and, therefore, are the gatekeepers who will decide when NFC is to be integrated into the handsets they subsidize for their customers. Since new technologies always need to develop new markets, the industry needs to create high consumption volumes in order to reduce the cost of NFC implementation to mobile handsets. Currently, an NFC equipped mobile costs around an additional $20 to $25 per unit, so wireless operators need to secure revenues in return for their investment.
Yet, mobile operators do seem increasingly positive that NFC will bring new revenues. The increasing interest in NFC technology is shown by the rising number of members of the NFC Forum Association. While it had just 4 members in 2004, it now has over 130, coming from a broad range of backgrounds: manufacturers, applications developers, financial services institutions, and more, all working together to promote the use of NFC technology in consumer electronics, mobile devices, and PCs. Such a wide group of business and technology experts is essential. The future applications are very diverse, and they need to be shaped by professionals from many fields to assess the best operational standards in order to ensure seamless interoperability between devices and a good level of security for users.
As a sign of the times, all major handsets manufacturers are developing NFC handsets used in field trials and early commercial launches: Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Sagem. NTT DoCoMo has used the FeliCa contactless technology, which is now embedded in about 80% of the phones sold by NTT DoCoMo in Japan. There are no great technological or cost barriers for NFC to be integrated quickly into a wide range of devices - unlike cameras or Bluetooth, which were first restricted to high-end devices.