One of the exciting new technologies in many Android phones is the existence of near field communication chips. These chips allow for smartphones to establish brief communications with another NFC enabled device. Google Wallet is a payment application loaded on Android phones that allows users to pay for physical purchases by swiping their phone near a register. There has been some adoption of this model in stores such as Macy's, Toys "R" Us, and American Eagle.
The development of this new market also promises that a new crop of non-practicing entities will be formed to litigate against Google and other patent holders. However, an article from TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/06/do-we-even-need-nfc-for-mobile-payments-paypal-google-weigh-in-video/) estimates that NFC will not become a widespread technology and will not be integrated into modern infrastructure for another five to ten years. Additionally, Apple's resistance to adopt NFC in their iPhone 5 also reveals an ideological contrast in viewpoints. Apple appears to be short NFC and has resisted paying for additional chips and technologies to be placed into its devices, while Google has gone long on NFC and introduced it into its Android operating system. This reduces the potential targets of non-practicing entities, or patent trolls, as there will be less major corporations utilizing NFC in their devices.
It remains to be seen if NFC will prosper and die out, and both situations have significant implications for patent lawsuits.
That's interesting that such a promising technology will still take many years to come out, but I agree that when it does, it will provide a whole new edge to the smartphone patent war. I've also heard some complaints about small bugs with these NFC technologies that sometimes will charge you for something accidentally if you are using your cell phone and within range--I wonder if that's been a significant factor in the speed (or lack there of) of adoption.
ReplyDeleteThis new technology was used for some credit cards, where they can just slide their card across their reader instead of swiping it. Google seems like it is a bigger risk taker when it comes to new technology and will therefore have the advantage with later patents. Apple seems like it is not going to take the risk on the NFC as this device could be taken advantage of by hackers where they would easily use other peoples credit card information. If this device proves to be a security threat then they do not want to tarnish their perfectly created image.
ReplyDeleteVery valid point--I believe that Apple decline to include NFC in the iPhone 5 because Apple managers believed Passbook to be sufficient enough for payment needs. At some level, NFC appears to be counter-intuitive because it requires a mobile device to approach a stationary cash register to conduct a mobile payment...
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