Mobile devices have already helped us manage our everyday tasks, including our emails, banking and health. Now, smartphones can also be our shopping buddy, as the NFC or Near Field Communication technology has paved ways to pay for our stuff with our smartphones.
NFC or Near Field Communications is the newest technology that permits two devices, like your phone and a payment terminal, to communicate with each other when having a close contact. It is the technology that makes contactless payments possible. Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay are just but a few apps that utilizes the NFC technology for effortless payment.
To adapt to the NFC standard, you need to acquire a NFC-enabled payment terminal that can accept contactless payments. Don’t worry, NFC mobile payments are very secure to use as it utilizes a dynamically encrypted connection.
Upon initiation of a contactless payment transaction by holding or tapping your smartphone onto a payment terminal, the NFC technology occurs. The NFC reader and the smartphone exchange encrypted data to each other using a specified radio frequency. The whole system just takes a few seconds. Its speed makes it one of the reasons why it is now preferred for cashless transactions as it only takes a fraction of the time needed when you use the traditional magnetic stripe or chip card transactions.
Going cashless or paying through a mobile device leaves a bit of an issue to some people, mainly because we are used to have our wallets with cash close to us. Security isn’t an issue to NFC payments. NFC processes data in a very encrypted process and it is also constantly changing, while magnetic strip cards can be easily cloned due to its data just encoded and stored to the back of the card. A technology called tokenization is being used by Apple Pay, and here’s how it works: Upon taking an image of your credit card and upload it onto your iDevice, Apple sends your card details to its issuing bank. The bank then replaces the details with a series of random numbers that are system generated (called the token). The random number is returned to your iDevice and saves it. This just means that your account details saved on your phone cannot be cloned or fall into the hands of criminals. You also cannot use Apple Pay without your fingerprint, as it needs your fingerprint via the Touch ID to initiate a payment transaction.
Aside from using the Near Field Communication technology in mobile payments, NFC is also now used into advertising. NFC tags are now embedded into posters and adverts that when detected by a smartphone, offers additional information or even bonus content, just like QR codes. Difference is, QR codes needs to be scanned by your smartphone camera manually, opposed to the NFC that it doesn’t need user interaction. Your phone will just notify you of it.
NFC has also the ability to control devices and appliances around your home, making your home a “smart home.” It can be used to unlock your front gate and door and automatically turn lights and the heating modules on upon passing your NFC-enable smartphone in the driveway. NFC is also now being used as an alternative to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when listening to music wirelessly. Sony has now introduced NFC to several of its Xperia line of smartphones, BRAVIA line of smart TVs, and their sound systems and boom boxes.
Aside from this, there is still a handful of more useful and important things than NFC can do, and this list can be still longer as there are a lot of innovations being developed as time goes by. But for now, enjoy your next Starbucks Grande Frappucino using the NFC technology.
Hoping this post can give you a heads up about Near Field Communication technology . You can also speak to us at +1 646 755 9669 or write-in at [email protected] to see how we can help.
