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NFC Demo with the Nokia C7 at the Jump Store in Megamall

SMART-PLDT opened the JUMP Store yesterday in MegaMall’s CyberZone. In spirit, it’s much like the Apple Store in the US allowing customers to really get their hands dirty with technology. As a Class-A geek, I was impressed with two things in particular: they had the never before launched HTC Evo 3D smartphone and an upgraded version of the Nokia C7 sporting NFC technology. This post will talk about NFC technology.

NFC or “near field communications” is a not-so-new technology that has been only recently applied to mobile phones. In the same way that we swipe our work ID’s to time in, we can use smartphones equipped with NFC to replace most electronic transactions we do. In other countries, people use their mobile phones as ATM cards and merely tap it onto the ATM machine’s sensor to withdraw. More commonly, it is used as a MRT card which you can top up via SMS. In the Philippines, NFC tech for mobile phones is still in its infancy.

In this demo, a relatively old Nokia C7 is upgraded with NFC software. Three stickers are scanned on the back of the phone by a simple tap. One of these opens a link to a news site. The other opens a link to download a multimedia file and the last one is a operator command to check your balance. These NFC stickers can be placed anywhere in the metro and people can just download whatever is embedded inside. Great for drive to store promos. Imagine if McDonalds had this sticker on several of Ayala’s underpasses. Tapping the sticker with your phone downloads a coupon for a free sundae cone. Nice!

What’s great about NFC is that most recently released phones already have this technology embedded into the hardware. All it takes is a software upgrade to enable the feature. In fact, if you’re on Android, the latest v2.3 Gingerbread OS main feature is NFC capability.

Net of it all, NFC tech is similar to QR code and bar code scanning technology that’s also been around for a while. The difference is that NFC seems to be more applicable to interfacing with other forms of hardware systems like payment kiosks.

By Jayvee Fernandez

Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast and sitting Techbology Editor for The Philippine STAR.

He is also an EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.

2 replies on “NFC Demo with the Nokia C7 at the Jump Store in Megamall”

hopefully someone would tap this technology for the MRT/LRT system soon. And make it work for all telcos.

I was a fan of the Globe g-pass when it still existed. The looks on peoples faces when I cross the turnstile that is supposedly out of service is priceless! Loved the sound of the acknowledgement beep. hehe:D

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