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You may not have heard of the term Near Field Communication (or NFC), but odds are that someone you know owns a phone that has the capability to use it. NFC is a sort of mini-bluetooth that is integrates into millions of devices and cell phones already that allows data to pass back and forth between devices within very close range of each other.
Google’s already using it for money transfer, Apple’s looking into integrating it into all of their mobile devices from the iPhone to the iPad and Nokia and Samsung have already integrated it into 5 of their respective phones. This technology is limited in distance and data transfer rates, but is perfect for passing small amounts of information such as credit card info or Vcards.
The uses are virtually endless, but payment is currently the most widely accepted use of the technology. Google recently released Google Wallet, an app that allows Droid users to use NFC to pay by simply tapping their phone to an NFC terminal and can store credit cards, loyalty cards and even coupons. Paypal just announced that they will be releasing an app that allows phone-phone transactions to occur.
Watch out for this rapidly progressing technology to be changing the way you pay and accept payment!