RIM CEO Jim Balsillie has said at his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that “many” of the company’s upcoming handsets this year will feature NFC technology. Near Field Communications is the technology which would allow for easy location check-ins and mobile payments.
Some manufacturers feel the infrastructure isn’t yet there for NFC to be most useful and that the technology makes for bulky handsets but, with the speed that mobile is going, they may be playing catch-up in the end. Nokia and Samsung have embraced the technology along with Google’s Android OS. HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG have yet to create an NFC-enabled handset.
The word is that the next generation iPhone and iPad will also have Near-Field Communication support. Combined with Apple’s existing iTunes payment system and the fact that they they sell one of the most popular mobile handsets on the planet, this could rival the credit card companies.
via Pocket-lint