Near field getting nearer

LONDON, England - This week the world of Near Field Communications (NFC) will descend on a London hotel to discuss the future of contact-less payment, new technology and (possibly) whether or not they’ll be having another beer after dinner.

It’s predicted that in just two years from now, almost 500 million mobile devices will have NFC capabilities built in.

This week’s conference will focus on bringing together the various
elements that make NFC a reality, from handset manufacturers right
through to retailers. There will also be a number of key announcements
at the conference including some exciting news from Nokia brought by
Jeremy Belostock who is head of NFC at Nokia.

We’ve already seen NFC take off in big cities such as London and Hong
Kong with the Oyster Card and Octopus card, both have which have been
expanded beyond paying for travel to include the capability of paying
at vending machines and for newspapers.

Last November Nokia, together with O2 and Barclaycard embarked on a six
month test using NFC-enabled handsets that enable users to pay for
travel and small items (less than £10) in a number of outlets across
London.

We’ll be reporting live from the conference on Wednesday, so check back to get all the news.

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• Nokia 6216 classic marks the coming of age of Near Field Communication

Tags | Barclaycard, Near Field Communication, NFC, Nokia, Oyster card