NFC TimesThe premier source for news, analysis and commentary on
Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NXP Semiconductors CEO Rick Clemmer said the chip maker has notched design wins for more than 130 handsets and tablets, giving it an “Intel-like” market share for the number of devices being designed with NFC chips.

France-based NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has relaunched its initial public offering, planning to raise up the €79 million (US$103.4 million), as it seeks to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded NFC market.

Inside Secure today announced it has shipped 20 million NFC chips the past 12 months and said its chips will be used by a leading phone maker on a major mobile platform–as it seeks to build interest in its renewed IPO.

NFC chip supplier Inside Secure has released a new version of its NFC software stack, as it seeks to break rival NXP Semiconductors’ dominance of the market for NFC chips in Android phones.

NXP Semiconductors has announced it has design wins for more than 90 mobile phone models and tablets, a substantial increase from last quarter.

While handset makers are beginning to ship more popular smartphone models with NFC inside, some key industry observers say they expect significantly fewer than 40 million NFC phones will be shipped for all of 2011.

NXP Semiconductors has announced it is supplying the NFC chip for the Android phone launched this summer by Turkish operator Turkcell and made by Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei.

U.S.-based Texas Instruments has launched its long-anticipated NFC chip, targeting a range of devices, from medical equipment to hotel door locks, but not mobile phones–at least not yet.

NXP Semiconductors' sharply lower forecast for NFC phone shipments for 2011 comes as little surprise to many, who point to delays in handset shipments and failure by many mobile operators to firm up their NFC business plans.

NXP Semiconductors, the largest supplier of NFC chips, has lowered its projection for total NFC phone shipments for 2011 to 40 million or less–substantially lower than the 70 million it had been projecting.