Near Field Communications World » The Market

Nokia: MeeGo will include NFC too

Sarah Clark — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:39:42 +0000

Nokia's new head of mobile solutions, Anssi Vanjoki, has revealed that near field communication functionality will be a core capability of the new MeeGo operating system.

In a blog post entitled 'The fightback starts now', Vanjoki explains that:

From the ground up, MeeGo is a computer operating system. Working with Intel, we've combined our assets to create a software platform that completely integrates mobile elements such as GPS, Bluetooth, NFC and more. This will offer developers a rich environment to create new possibilities for users.

Vanjoki also explains in the blog post that Symbian and MeeGo are the only operating systems Nokia now plans to support. This means that, alongside the Symbian devices already expected to include NFC from next year, it could well now turn out to be true after all that all new Nokia smartphones will come with NFC from 2011:

Symbian and MeeGo are the best software for our smartest devices. As such, we have no plans to use any other software. Despite rumors to the contrary, there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia. There has also been some confusion about Symbian and Nseries. The Nokia N8 will be our only Nseries device on Symbian^3. Of course, we 'never comment on future products', but a Symbian^4 Nseries device is a strong possibility. A very strong possibility.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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‘We didn’t mean all smartphones would get NFC’, says Nokia

Sarah Clark — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:58:35 +0000

The Finnish mobile phone giant has backtracked on its headline-grabbing announcement and now says that only some smartphones will have NFC next year and they may not be available in all markets.

RETREAT: NFC will appear in some phones, in some markets, some time next year.

Just a few days after top Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki told the Mobey Forum that all new smartphones would include NFC from 2011, the Finnish phone giant has backed away from its commitment.

Doubts regarding the likelihood that Nokia would add near field communication capability to all its new smartphones from 2011 were first raised by Rafe Blandford, editor of All About Symbian. Blandford explained that:

NFC is scheduled to be one of the new features in the Symbian^4 platform. It was originally targeted for inclusion in Symbian^3, but was pushed back to the later release to avoid overall delays. Therefore it seems likely that we will see NFC in a select number of Nokia's Symbian^4 products, in select markets, at some point in 2011.

Blandford's points seemed to make sense so NFC World asked Nokia to clarify the situation by providing an official statement regarding its NFC plans. Here is what we received:

"NFC is a technology we actively support. Starting in 2011, our global Symbian smartphone portfolio will begin to include NFC. This may or may not include country variants."

So NFC is not going to be available in all smartphones after all — and the NFC handsets that do get produced next year may not be available in all markets and they may not hit the shops until the end of 2011, rather than the beginning. Which, of course, is a rather different message to the one given to the Mobey Forum last week...

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Broadcom to enter NFC market, buys Innovision for $47.5m

Sarah Clark — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:47:45 +0000

Semiconductor giant Broadcom Corporation has announced it has agreed to acquire UK-based NFC specialist Innovision Research & Technology in a deal valued at US$47.5m.

Innovision has developed a suite of designs, patents and expertise, known as Gem NFC IP, which enables near field communication technology to be added at low cost to mass-market mobile phones and other devices.

Current generation NFC phones require a separate NFC controller chip to be built into the handset. With Innovision's Gem NFC IP, mobile phone chipset manufacturers can build the technology into their existing 'combo chip' products, already used to add Bluetooth, WiFi, FM radio and GPS to current mobile phones.

The advantage of this approach is that it enables NFC to be added to mass market phones far more cheaply — under US$1 per unit compared to the $5+ cost of a standalone NFC controller. Innovision makes its technology available to semiconductor companies on a licensing basis and several major suppliers to the mobile phone industry have already licensed the firm's technology.

Broadcom specialises in communications and networking semiconductors and had revenues of $4.49bn in 2009. It is a major player in the combo chip market. Clients include Apple, which uses Broadcom's WiFi+Bluetooth combo chip in the iPhone 3GS, iPad and iPod Touch.

The acquisition of Innovision, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market at the London Stock Exchange, is being made through the company's Broadcom International subsidiary. Terms have been agreed with Innovision's board which see Broadcom making an all-cash offer to acquire all of the issued and to be issued shares of Innovision.

Under the terms of the offer, Innovision shareholders will receive £0.35 ($0.52 approx) per share in cash for each Innovision share held — an 84.2% premium on the closing price of Innovision common stock on 17 June 2010 which, says Broadcom, values the deal at a total of $47.5m (£32m approx) at current exchange rates. Broadcom expects to close the acquisition of Innovision in the third quarter of 2010.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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All new Nokia smartphones to come with NFC from 2011

Sarah Clark — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:47:56 +0000

The announcement was made by a top Nokia executive at the Mobey Forum's 10th anniversary meeting in Helsinki this morning.

VANJOKI: All new Nokia smartphones will feature NFC from next year

Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president for markets, has announced that all new smartphones introduced by the company from 2011 will come with NFC. Vanjoki, who is responsible for consumer insights, sales, marketing, manufacturing and logistics across all Nokia products and services, made the announcement during a keynote presentation at the Mobey Forum's 10th anniversary workshop in Helsinki this morning.

Vanjoki wasn't able to give specific details about the new smartphone models, Liisa Kanniainen, executive director of the Mobey Forum, has told NFC World. But delegates were informed that more information will be made available "in due course".

Vanjoki was also asked whether the new smartphones would support the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), says Kanniainen. In reply, he explained that the phones would support all open business models, suggesting that they will include support for both SWP and other secure element formats such as MicroSD cards and, perhaps, an embedded secure element too. A set of tools is also to be made available to third party application developers.

The announcement follows concerns in the NFC market that Nokia was pulling back from its long-term support for near field communication technology, following the news earlier this year that Nokia had cancelled plans to put its long-awaited 6216 Classic NFC phone into production.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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No NFC in iPhone 4G

Sarah Clark — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:59:17 +0000

Apple’s fourth generation iPhone sports a slew of new features but will not have built-in NFC capability.

The company’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, revealed the latest version of the best-selling mobile handset during a keynote speech at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco today, but did not announce that near field communication will be built in to the device.

Apple is widely expected to add NFC technology to its iPhone soon, and is rumoured to have been testing prototype units, but it now looks like native NFC capability will not arrive until at least June 2011, in the device's next annual refresh.

Recently published patent applications reveal that Apple sees NFC as playing an important part in its future business, including roles in everything from concert and airline ticketing and file transfer and data synchronisation to, importantly, a mobile payments, mobile commerce and mobile payments business proposition that is set to see the company turn into a service provider sitting at the centre of the emerging multi-billion dollar world of mobile commerce.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Innovision signs $6m IP licensing deal

Sarah Clark — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:38:43 +0000

NFC chipset technology specialist Innovision has signed a licensing agreement with a "major global semiconductor corporation". The unnamed semiconductor manufacturer will use Innovision's Gem NFC intellectual property to build NFC functionality into high volume chipsets for mobile handsets and other consumer electronics products.

The deal will see Innovision receiving a licence fee and service revenues worth in excess of US$2m in this financial year and is expected to be worth more than $6m in total over the next few years, via a combination of licensing fees and royalties.

"This contract is particularly significant as it is the first where the end customer will licence and take delivery of the IP and then customise it to their requirements utilising their own engineering teams," says Innovision.

Earlier this week Innovision unveiled a new generation of its Gem NFC IP, a suite of designs, patents and know-how which together form a complete on-chip NFC sub-system designed to enable NFC functionality to be added at low cost to mass-market mobile phones and other devices. The company expects that 15% to 20% of all the handsets shipped in 2012 will include the company's low-cost NFC technology.

"This is an important milestone for the company as we further proliferate adoption of our IP into very high volume markets with major global players, while at the same time minimising the need to add large engineering teams for customisation as we have been doing to date," says chief executive David Wollen.

"The majority of the tier one semiconductor connectivity companies worldwide are now adopting or evaluating our IP for NFC," he added. "By encouraging customers to undertake any customisation they require themselves or to take the IP with minor changes, which becomes possible as it matures, we are able to start penetrating tier two and three accounts. This should further strengthen the future royalty stream."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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IMS forecasts 785 million NFC chips to ship in 2015

Mike Clark — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:49:17 +0000

NFC chip shipments will reach 785 million units in 2015, according to a new report from IMS Research, more than double the 300 million units recently predicted to ship that year by ABI Research.

"The NFC market has encountered a number of false dawns since its inception over six years ago," says Don Tait, author of 'NFC – World — 2010'. "The launch of NFC enabled smartphones in 2010 and in 2011 will help the market to gain traction. Using an NFC-enabled phone for payment and ticketing and access are projected to be the main applications for the technology and this will boost market development over the next few years."

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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300 million NFC chips to ship in 2015, says ABI

Mike Clark — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:15:39 +0000

Demand for NFC chips for use in mobile handsets, computer and consumer electronics and mobile handset peripherals will see the world NFC chip market reaching 300m units in 2015, according to a new report from ABI Research.

"Mobile handsets remain the key market for NFC but increasingly the potential of the technology is driving NFC into other devices and form factors," says ABI's Jonathan Collins, author of Near field communications: Embedded and aftermarket contactless applications for mobile devices and other consumer products. "The potential to offer NFC to handsets with microSD slots is helping to change the mobile handset landscape for many NFC vendors and supporters," he added.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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STMicro, NXP, Trusted Logic and Stollmann join forces to add NFC to Android devices

Sarah Clark — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:58:04 +0000

NFC chipset manufacturer STMicroelectronics and Stollmann, which launched a chipset independent NFC API for Android last month, have joined NXP and Trusted Logic, who launched a joint NFC API for Android in April, to promote a common hardware-independent API for NFC applications on mobile phones and other devices running Android.

The companies are now to update their NFC APIs and put them forward to the Android community as a proposed standard for adding NFC to Android devices.

"Technical collaboration between leading NFC protocol stack vendors and NFC chip manufacturers is both a major and necessary step towards massive adoption of NFC in the Android environment," explained Laurent Degauque, telecom and NFC marketing manager at STMicroelectronics. "This joint and open approach, shared by four key players, will pave the way for the successful deployment of NFC technology and create increased confidence for customers."

The API specification will be made available under an Apache License 2.0 model on request by email to NFCforAndroid@trusted-logic.com or nfc@stollmann.de.

Leading NFC chipset supplier Inside Contactless is not part of the group, however. It has developed its own Open NFC solution, available in Windows Mobile, Linux and Java editions as well as Android, which can be downloaded free of charge from open source development site Sourceforge.net.

Both NXP and Inside Contactless recently told NFC World that they expect multiple Android handsets equipped with NFC functionality to arrive on the market from the end of this year.

UPDATE Stollmann has released a video which demonstrates both NXP's PN544 and STMicroelectronics' ST21NFCA chipsets running interchangeably on a standard Beagle Board using Stollmann's NFaCe+A API for Android devices:

Stollmann's API specification is available free of charge and is designed to be implemented in a portable Android Dalvik layer as part of an integration package which the company is to make freely available in source code for integration in different Android platforms and for different NFC chips and protocol stacks, including the firm's own NFCStack+.

The API specification is available free of charge by emailing info@stollmann.de and a complete software development kit supporting the NFaCe+A API will be available by the end of this quarter.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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Oi Paggo to run NFC field trial in Brazil using Gemalto NFC add-on

Sarah Clark — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Oi Paggo, the SMS-based mobile payments service owned by Brazilian mobile network operator Oi, is to run an NFC field trial using Gemalto's Upteq N-Flex device later this year. The trial will focus on retail payments to begin with and will then be extended to include payment for public transport as well.

Gemalto's N-Flex SIM+antenna devices enable near field communication functionality to be added to a wide range of mobile phones and are the first near field communication add-ons to conform to the Single Wire Protocol.

The devices are currently being tested by MasterCard, DBS Bank, StarHub and EZ-Link in Singapore and up to 100,000 units are expected to be used in a commercial deployment by Garanti Bank and Avea in Turkey from July.

The announcement is part of a series of expansion plans the company announced at the GSMA Mobile Money Summit this week.

This article was first published at www.NearFieldCommunicationsWorld.com.

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