[LINK] Mobiles + RFID = Near field communication

[rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au]

Wow. I can just imagine the marketing discussion ... "having had some 
success defusing the serious privacy concerns raised by RFID, I think 
now is the time to introduce something really invasive."

Our only hope now is that the normal incompetence that's typified most 
similar ventures in the past can be repeated here, and that the software 
will be so dysfunctional or the service providers so incapable, that 
ultimately the technology will die a natural death!

I gave the NFC stuff a serious read when it was first announced. I'm not 
confident that the commerce would justify the price of the 
infrastructure ... in most mobile phone micro-transaction apps, you get 
a really successful pilot, which translates into an application which 
works but whose economies don't scale. We can hope the same would be 
true here...

RC
PS: a question. The Link return e-mail address was scrambled somewhere:
Link_Institute%DSD at dsrd.vic.gov.au
Any ideas how? (Just curious, I hadn't seen this happen before)
jeff.evans at iird.vic.gov.au wrote:

>Quoting from a posting on <http://www.rfid-weblog.com/>
>
>RFID Coming to Your Cell Phone
>A recent report by ABI Research says that in five years (by 2009), half of
>mobile phones will be RFID-enabled. They will be equipped with the new Near
>Field Communication standard.
>
>   "Here is how you'll use it. While walking down the street, you'll see a
>   poster for a movie you want to see. By pointing your phone at the
>   poster, you will be connected to a website, buy the ticket and be
>   charged through the credit card information stored in your smart phone.
>   Of course, other usages might severely affect your privacy. But as the
>   technology is already being tested, I guess we'll have to deal with it."
>
>For more information about Near Field Communication, visit the NFC Forum
><http://www.nfc-forum.org/>, an industry organization established by Royal
>Phillips Electronics, Nokia and Sony.
>
>Regards
>
>Jeff Evans
>Manager, Business Channel
>Department of Innovation, Industry & Regional Development (DIIRD)
>Victoria, Australia
>Ph 03 9651 9590 Fax 03 9651 9725
>Email jeff.evans at iird.vic.gov.au
>http://www.business.channel.vic.gov.au
>http://www.business.vic.gov.au
>http://www.export.vic.gov.au
>http://www.ecommerce.vic.gov.au
>
>
>
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