Report: microSD ‘vital’ to commercial acceptance of NFC
15 April, 2010
category: NFC
Management consultancy group The Human Chain has released a report on how NFC microSD cards could be the key to making NFC mobile payment a reality.
“NFC microSD cards: stepping stone or standard?” looks in detail at the technology’s current development status as well as its implications, the business drivers and the customer experience compared with using an integrated NFC-enabled phone.
The report’s authors – Nick Spencer, senior consultant, The Human Chain, and Tim Jefferson, managing director, The Human Chain – examine how the technology works and detail patents registered by firms active in the market.
They also address the role of NFC-enabled microSD cards and examine whether they will be only a temporary fix until fully integrated NFC phones are more available, or if they will become established as a long-term option for NFC services.
“Frustration, confusion and false starts have characterized real-world deployment of NFC technology,” says Jefferson. “And the lack of a suitable range of NFC-enabled mobile handsets is one of the biggest challenges, hampering take-up of the technology by consumers and retailers alike. We’ve looked in depth at how the microSD form factor could play a vital role in making NFC a reality.”
“The report starts from the premise that NFC is just one of the features that consumers may demand alongside a wider range of functions and apps such as cameras and games, and that they are unlikely to go out of their way to purchase a mobile handset with NFC until there is a range of stable, attractive services that are easy and convenient to use that make use of that capability,” says Spencer. “Handset suppliers need the assurance of demand before they will commit to the high development and deployment costs that can only be justified if NFC devices can be manufactured in sufficiently high volumes. We look at whether the introduction of the technology via different form factors, such as passive NFC stickers and NFC-enabled microSD cards, could be the answer.”
The report will be introduced at the WIMA Conference on April 20 in Monaco, exhibition stand No. B04.