We’ve been hearing and reading a lot about Near Field Communication or NFC. Have you heard of it? It’s been around a while but it’s really starting to be be intergrated into our daily lives and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. The applications coming to our mobile handsets are incredible. The benefits for consumers are limitless. Also, the job opportunities being created by it are exciting. NFC is a set of short-range wireless technologies, typically requiring a distance of 4 cm or less. NFC is intended mainly for use in mobile phones. 
Why do we mention it here? Because there are opportunities for the consumer, the job seeker, and the recruiter. There are currently three specific uses for NFC:
Card emulation: the NFC device behaves like an existing contactless card
Reader mode: the NFC device is active and reads a passive RFID tag, for example for interactive advertising
P2P mode: two NFC devices communicating together and exchanging information.
There are plenty of applications that are possible, such as:
Mobile ticketing in public transportation: forget your metro card? No problem, tap your phone against the turnstile and in you go.
Mobile payment: Your sitting at a Yankee game and you want to buy a Yankee hat? No worries, your smartphone acts as a debit/credit payment card.
Bluetooth pairing: in the future, pairing of Bluetooth 2.1 devices with NFC support will be as easy as bringing them close together and accepting the pairing. The process of activating Bluetooth on both sides, searching, waiting, pairing and authorization will be replaced by simply bringing the mobile phones close to each other.
Other applications in the future?
Electronic ticketing: airline tickets,concert/event tickets, and sporting events
Electronic money
Travel cards
Identity documents
Mobile commerce
Electronic keys: replacements for physical car keys, house/office keys, hotel room keys, etc.
The big news about NFC is that soon the technology will be in all smartphones. There’ll be a chip in your phone that will be able to talk to payment terminals specially designed for NFC, eventually replacing credit and debit cards. In Japan, NFC is already being used to pay for a range of items, from transport to alcohol, clothes and refreshments from vending machines.
Google’s Eric Schmidt spoke at the Mobile World Congress in February and gave hints as to how Google will take advantage of this technology. Hint: Mobile Money. Google launched the first NFC-enabled device, the Nexus S, in December, and other manufacturers will follow suit. So not only will you be able to make payments from your phone – throwing your wallet away – the same device will also contain your ID, trainpass and all those membership and loyalty cards that you can never find when you actually need them. Retailers are adapting the technology around the world. Starbucks will know when you haven’t bought your latte in a few days and ask you why. Perhaps there is a more convenient location, let us suggest one. This is only one example retailers can use the technology – and it’s only going to get smarter and more interactive as it matures. Soon, NFC will affect all your daily habits, whether at the gas station, supermarket or buying drinks on a night out.
Job opportunities are plentiful in the mobile sector already but this should help employment across the board as new applications emerge. Marketers will intensify mobile marketing campaigns efforts directly to consumers based on location, preferences, buying habits, ets. We predict a lot of job creation in this sector.
talentgrab
