[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk5mUdeEF8c[/youtube]
Last night Google a submitted officially the new Google Nexus S with the new version Android 2.3 Gingerbread. From a technical point of view, Google Nexus S did not impress many people, but in this article I will try to explain the NFC technology - Near Field Communications - implemented in Nexus S and probably in the future iPhone model. NFC technology works on the basis of wireless chips that allow the exchange of information between devices when they are at very small distances from each other. Based on inductive coupling technology, NFC allows the exchange of energy or information between devices located a few centimeters apart.
Based on inductive coupling (think Powermat and other wireless charging schemes), NFC uses loosely coupled inductive circuits to exchange power and/or data over a short distance (usually about four centimeters). While it shares the same basic technology with things like RFID tags and contactless smartcards, NFC is implemented as a read-only tech in the Nexus S. That means you'll only get info from other NFC tags, not the other way around. These tags cost pennies to implement and can be embedded in almost anything: stickers, posters, glass, and so on.
In short, as you can see from the video, NFC technology makes it easier to pay for certain products or exchange information with different devices. The chip integrated in the phone can be turned on/off at any time and the information transmitted is processed by the phone's operating system and Google has chosen to implement a system of tags for each piece of information.
This technology will absolutely make everything easier, but until it is implemented on a large scale, we still have to wait, a long time. It is very possible that the new iPhone will have this technology implemented because Apple has been working for years to implement an e-wallet system for iDevices.
I personally see this technology as a great big step forward in the field of payments, do you?
