Near Field Communications World » ABI Research

One in five mobile phones to feature NFC by 2012

Sarah Clark — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:45:08 +0000

OPINION: Licensing deals signed by Innovision will see NFC functionality being built into 15% to 20% of the handsets shipped in 2012, says the company, as leading mobile phone chipset manufacturers look for low cost ways to add NFC into mass market mobile phones.

Both ABI Research and IMS Research, meanwhile, have produced new five year forecasts of the NFC market. While both forecasts differ widely — IMS says 785 million NFC chips will ship in 2015 while ABI forecasts a more cautious 300 million — it's becoming clearer every week that NFC is now very much here to stay.

Sarah Clark, Editor

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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ABI ranks contactless transaction and NFC chip suppliers

Sarah Clark — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:39:17 +0000

NXP Semiconductor has been ranked at the top of the latest edition of ABI Research's Contactless Transaction IC Vendor Matrix. Inside Contactless and Infineon Technologies claimed the second and third spots in the matrix, which examines the contactless semiconductor market for payment, ticketing and near field communication (NFC) applications and ranks each of the vendors according to their ability to innovate and implement the technology.

“This year, NXP retained its top position after 12 months in which it not only strengthened its already strong core offerings such as increased security options on Mifare products, but also expanded its product reach into new contactless transaction applications and markets,” says Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI Research.

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI to provide an understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. Suppliers are assessed on their innovation and implementation across several criteria which are unique to each vendor matrix.

For this matrix, under innovation, ABI Research examined the vendors’ product portfolios (including specifications supported), their products’ physical specifications and applicability to a range of applications or devices; the companies’ experience, leadership and knowledge transfer, their relevance to the global market, and their focus on and capabilities in new application development.

Under implementation, ABI scrutinized each vendors’ overall market position, leadership, strength and experience; their marketing capabilities and strategies; their installed base and customer deployments; the breadth of the verticals and applications targeted or served and their strength within those; their partnering strategies, and their global reach.

STMicroelectronics came fourth, followed by Sony, Texas Instruments, Renesas and Samsung.

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

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Is NFC ripe for adoption, or has it missed the boat?

Sarah Clark — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:51:47 +0000

OPINION: ABI Research caused quite a stir this week when it distributed a press release saying NFC has taken too long to develop, that other mobile payments solutions such as SMS have beaten it to market and it will now be six years before NFC becomes a viable mobile payments solution.

A little further investigation finds the press release has exaggerated the researchers' point of view a little, however, and ABI still expects to see NFC deployed in "significant numbers towards the end of next year." As more and more innovation comes from the non-payments sector, though, it raises an interesting question. Does NFC still need mobile payments to succeed?

Sarah Clark, Editor

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

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NFC isn’t really six years away, says ABI

Sarah Clark — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:30:00 +0000

A controversial press release from ABI Research this week seemed to indicate the company believes it will be six years before NFC can offer viable large-scale mobile payment solutions. A little further investigation, though, finds the analysts still expect to see the first major orders at the end of next year...

ABI RESEARCH: Expects NFC to be adopted in 'significant numbers' next year

"Once, NFC (Near Field Communication) was the leading contender among technologies that could enable mobile payments." says an ABI Research press release announcing its new report 'Mobile Commerce and Payments'. "But NFC has developed more slowly than anticipated, and will not offer viable large-scale mobile payment solutions for at least six years."

"In the mean time", the release continues, "three existing technologies — SMS, mobile internet and downloadable mobile applications — have the potential to deliver what NFC (so far) cannot."

"While discussed for years, mobile payments have been slow to grow significantly," the company's website adds. "ABI Research believes this is due to systemic issues with NFC and because of a lack of focus on practical consumer use cases. In what instances would mobile payments make sense, compared to the ways in which consumers pay today?"

That's a picture that's very much at odds with most industry observers' point of view, and with ABI's view in the past. The press release has been reprinted on a number of websites but here at Near Field Communications World we were surprised enough by ABI's sudden change of heart to contact the company to get a bit more background information.

The firm still expects to see NFC being adopted in "significant numbers towards the end of next year," ABI principal analyst Jonathan Collins told NFCW. "What we actually see is that there have been issues around the business model and the technology standardization." But, he added, "we are nearer to deployment than before."

In the press release for Near Field Communication (NFC) — Interim Technologies and Devices, and NFC Mobile Handsets, a second new ABI report that takes a much more positive view, Collins' point of view is explained further:

What has been lacking is a short-term, realistic view of the potential for NFC in small and targeted rollouts, either by customer segment, bundled application, or regional capabilities," says ABI Research principal analyst Jonathan Collins. "NFC's benefits are obvious if the technology is ubiquitous; but it will not reach that level of acceptance without a rethinking of the way to engender NFC demand in a piecemeal fashion."
When NFC first emerged as a technology for mobile handsets in 2003, the ability to address extremely broad end-user markets with a simple end user interface — namely mobile handsets and payments, as well as multiple other technologies and interactions — was immediately recognized as a significant potential. But despite many trials involving many companies from multiple industries, only one NFC handset is commercially available.
"A new wave of companies and products has emerged, eager to harness the potential of NFC in a range of applications and services that are often quite niche, but that can use NFC today to create value and drive efficiencies," comments Collins.
This staggered start is reflected in the current hardware market for NFC chipsets, with a large percentage of NFC ICs not going into mobile handsets but into other devices.
NFC peripherals and NFC additions to consumer devices are emerging alongside contactless stickers and other interim technologies that will help bridge the gap between NFC's usefulness and the lack of broad availability of NFC handsets; while large-scale operator rollouts remain subject to additional trials and the further development of business relationships enabling support for NFC payment and ticketing services.

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

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