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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the fourth-generation iPhone today and, as expected, there was no mention of Near Field Communication.

The much-anticipated introduction of the new iPhone version took place at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. And while the new iPhone packs video calling, a 5-megapixel camera and a 3-axis gyroscope for gaming, NFC is nowhere to be found in the specifications.

That Apple is snubbing the short-range wireless technology this year comes as no surprise to NFC industry observers. As NFC Times noted a couple of weeks ago, most NFC industry sources of late had concluded Apple’s adoption of NFC will likely wait until next year. Among other things, at least one well-publicized leak of the fourth-generation iPhone prototype several weeks ago contained no sign of an NFC chip or antenna.

Anticipation had been building throughout the spring that Apple would adopt NFC this year as a steady stream of patent applications filed by the company came to light. They put NFC at the hub of device-sharing networks and at the center of the retail-payment experience, event ticketing and peer-to-peer funds transfers.

“Apple has strategic plans to put NFC into the next version of the iPhone, next year,” said Einar Rosenberg, CTO for U.S.-based Narian Technologies, citing sources. He declined to elaborate, but other observers also believe the 2011 version of the iPhone will support NFC. Among other things, the sheer volume of Apple’s patent filings featuring NFC makes it likely the popular smartphone will sport the technology in the future, they say.

Rosenberg, who has been closely following Apple’s patent applications, surmises the company passed on NFC this year because of time constraints for integrating the technology in advance of the mid-2010 launch of the fourth-generation phone, along with added costs for NFC components and the extra space they would take up. (The new iPhone is 24% thinner than the 2009 version). He expects costs for NFC technology to fall and the components to shrink.

Android on the Way
Meanwhile, industry sources expect competing smartphone makers to come out with NFC-enabled models well before next year’s iPhone hits the market.

Handset makers will introduce at least two to three Android-based smartphones with NFC functionality by early next year, they predict. In addition, Nokia is expected to come out with one or more Symbian smartphones packing NFC and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is also said to be working on NFC.

Android is getting the most attention, however, with such handset makers as HTC, Samsung and Motorola believed to be working on NFC models based on the Google operating system. Among the Android models speculated to get the NFC treatment is Samsung’s Galaxy S, which the South Korea-based phone maker recently released in non-NFC form.

Laurent Degauque, telecom and NFC marketing manager in the smart card unit of NFC chip maker STMicroelectronics, declined to speculate on which Android phone makers or models would incorporate NFC. But he said the interest is unmistakable.

“Most of the handset manufacturers we are in contact with, when they are considering integrating NFC, they are very often considering integrating NFC on an Android platform,” he told NFC Times. "Yes, we think there will be several Android-based handsets (with NFC) available before the end of this year or early next year."

Window for Peripherals
The absence of NFC in the new iPhone also offers an opportunity to suppliers of phone accessories carrying contactless or NFC chips, said Narian’s Rosenberg. The peripherals, such as microSD cards, stickers and SIMs with flexible antennas, could store payment, ticketing or access control applications. Users would insert or attach the accessories to their phones and tap them as they would contactless cards.

Some of the peripheral makers are putting full NFC chips in their devices or already have the chips in place. This would enable the devices to also read RFID tags and perhaps operate in peer-to-peer mode. And at least two of the companies, U.S.-based DeviceFidelity and Wireless Dynamics of Canada, have introduced attachments that turn the iPhone itself into a payment device.

“These (accessory) companies have a six- to 12-month window of opportunity to come in and really capture NFC,” Rosenberg told NFC Times.