One in Five Smartphones to Support NFC by 2014, Forecasts Firm

At least 20% of smartphones will support NFC by 2014–equating to nearly 300 million phones, according to a new report by UK-based Juniper Research.

The research firm predicts that mobile network operators launching services in 20 "early-adopting countries" before the end of next year will drive growth in the short term. It noted that French operators have projected they will sell 1 million NFC phones this year alone.

By 2014, Juniper forecasts that North America will account for just under half of NFC smartphones, followed by Western Europe.

NFC payments and retail marketing with coupons and smart posters will become common among smartphone users in Western Europe, North America and other developed regions, said the firm.

The projection is more conservative than some, though market research firm iSuppli projected back in December that by 2014, there would be 220 million NFC phones shipped.

But Juniper’s latest projection is well below the firm’s earlier NFC forecast, released in September 2008, in which it predicted that 700 million mobile subscribers would be carrying phones equipped with NFC by 2013.

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