Ray reports, “Near Field Communications (NFC) is a two-way standard for low-power-short-range radio communication. NFC builds on the one-way-induction-powered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) standard by mandating that NFC devices have an induction-powered tag (which will operate even if the phone loses power) and an RFID reader which can be used to interact with other tags. So an NFC device can be an RFID tag, and an RFID reader, or even both at the same time.”
Ray reports, “We have comments, reported by Near Field Communications World, from the chap who runs the NFC Group on LinkedIn. He claims to have reliable information that ‘Apple has built some prototypes of the next gen iPhone with an RFID reader built [in]… its not full NFC but its a start for real service discovery.’
“Putting NFC into an iPhone would give Apple a distinct feature advantage: Symbian^3 will have APIs for NFC built in, but ^3 devices are a long way off, despite optimistic presentations at the recent Symbian Exposition,” Ray reports. “It was that dry, technical, explanation from Lee Williams which prompted speculation about how Steve Jobs might announce the capability: ‘Bang! My groceries paid for! Bang! My train ticket paid for! Bang! My car unlocked!'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: ‘Tis “boom,” not “bang,” Reg hack.
Bang! My privacy obliterated!
Steve uses the word “boom” for demos…
Bang? I believe the word you are searching for is Boom.
I think Steve patented “Boom” so he has to use “Bang”
Whether it’s “boom” or “bang”, it’s certainly not “bing”.
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And I agree with Joe, there are all kinds of legitimate privacy concerns where RFIDs are involved. Someone could scan a crowd with an RFID scanner, and instantly know how many iPhone owners were present. Along with whatever other data the RFID thingy was broadcasting.
I’d hope they’d be very clear in explaining just how vulnerable we’d be, carrying RFID’d iPhones around.
Boom! I just grinned!
“why could Apple succeed where Nokia has failed”
hmm… Apple succeeding where others have failed… If only I could think of a good example of this phenomenon.. Oh, wait.
Personal computers
Mouse
MP3 player
Digital music
Mobile application store
Paranoia will destroy ya.
Gabriel, you only paint half the picture. Scanning a crowd for iPhone users is one thing. Scanning a crowd at a political protest or rally is another. It’s not too much of a stretch to see the adverse affect on personal liberty. I think I’ll take the inconvenience of doing a couple things manually over further intrusion into my all-too-digital privacy.
Hell! I thought this about the National Football Conference
I thought it said KFC. Nevermind….
@Joe
@Gabrial
@notsofast
Am I really missing something. I thought the article mentioned an RFID reader… Since when does a reader transmit personal and private information?? Maybe there is technology that I’m not aware of in this reader, but even if there were some type of transmit, I’m pretty sure old Stevo wouldn’t release it if it were really going to upset privacy advocates like you.
Would it be possible for the Tag to recognize when it has been scanned and to track who scanned it?
Could the info in the tag be encrypted, so that only those who have been given your “tag key” would be able to determine which phone it belonged to?
All this hype about spying, surveillance and privacy. When you go for a walk down the street, are all the other people there “spying” on you? I have no dramas with people looking into my business – so long as I know they are doing it.
Geez, a bit paranoid some of you?
The only information that’s shared is an ID, nothing more; it just transmits and/or receives an ID. Once an ID is detected, like with any other service, the back-end (servers) would have to check that there is an account with that ID. Otherwise there is nothing that can be done with the ID other than simply knowing it.
Information isn’t just blindly thrown around like some of you seem to think. Believe it or not, there are some fairly smart people working on this technology and they’ve thought of security concerns.
These things have been used for a while. Toll booths have used them for over a decade now. And there are even some gas stations that used this system to speed up transactions at the pump.
“All this hype about spying, surveillance and privacy. When you go for a walk down the street, are all the other people there “spying” on you? I have no dramas with people looking into my business – so long as I know they are doing it.”
Privacy is not “hype” — it’s a right.
to add to my above comment…
NFC is used like any other wireless connection, where any information can be transmitted back and forth, however, like with any other wireless system, you have to establish a connection first. The security (authorization method) of that connection is completely dependent on the service itself.
It could be automatically established. For instance when driving through a toll booth, you don’t want to have to enter a PIN number, you want it to just recognize you.
Or it could require a security code. Standing at the checkout counter at the grocery store. Once the “counter” recognizes you as a customer, an alert could automatically pop up on the display asking you to enter a PIN to authorize the transaction.
Basically it sounds like bluetooth, but with extremely low power requirements.
NFC is not RFID. RFID is long range. NFC is based on the 14443 standard which is short range – less than 10cm. NFC means the phone can be a reader or emulate a smartcard. As a smartcard it has secure keys.
You cannot scan a room to find who is their. Transactions are secure. For low cost purchases they may choose to emulate magnetic stripe cards and forgo security.
Sorry my post above is wrong. NFC does include the 15693 standard ie. RFID, but it doesn’t mean it has to be enabled – I think.
The same privacy arguments have been made at virtually every step in the digital march. And a percentage of people have fallen prey to this each time. And safeguards have been put in place for the majority.
I can scan a parking lot at a political rally and tell how many people are from each county and state. If someone shouts out their order in a restaurant, I can listen to it and then tailor a sales pitch to that person. If someone yells out to a friend that his car is unlocked and his full CD collection is in there, someone can overhear that and go steal it. But most of us won’t yell that out, will we? In the same way, most of us will not just spread our information like peanut butter without knowing that there are sufficient safeguards in place.
Ok, so now I am getting confused (“NFC is not RFID”). Can I put it this way: could this feature allow me to use the iPhone as a walkie talkie (direct communication to another nearby iPhone, bypassing the telecom network)?
@Sid
Good thing you caught your mistake, ’cause I was all set to rip you a new one for the obvious blunder. Be more careful next time.
Sorry, but is it really that hard to swipe a credit card? I’d be more excited about Apple finally giving you the ability to change the mail alert sound on the iPhone, then this..
@Bubba… while you’re at it, why don’t you just bring in that jar of nickels and dimes and pay up. It is “legal tender” of course!!
Privacy? Anyone who thinks privacy exits is living a delusion.
“But Nokia has been pushing NFC for years, so why could Apple succeed where Nokia has failed …?”
Hahahahah!
Yeah, Jimithy, I’m still laughing at that one.
This is obviously in the “rhetorical” department.
As a germaphobe, I really hope Apple does this soon. I love the idea of being able to go places and not have to hand a card or touch a keypad or anything.
Got issues?
There could be an app for that!
Bing! And all your Booms are belong to us…
Did anyone read the articles about an iPhone drawback in the Japanese market where they pay for everything by waving their phone in front of it?
I just spoke to my colleague and he tells me that NFC does not currently include 15693(ie RFID). It is just 14443 which is short range.
RFID/NFC + iPhone accessory APIs = Boom!
Or, as one cook says:
BAM!
I thought
NFC = No Freaking Clue
so when I saw the headline, I was hoping the iPhone had finally figured out a way to give people one.
Man. I agree that there are problems with putting RFID tags in things, but some you are really confused about this. Remind me of the people who are so scared of the word “nuclear” that doctors call them MRI machines, when th real name is “Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging.”
If you want to be an activist for something, make sure you know what you’re talking about. Otherwise, you hurt your own cause by making it look dumb.
Reg writers are indeed hacks. I used to like reading that thing about eight years ago but now it’s just beyond a joke. Sad to see a good site turn to the hit-whore Fox News dark side, and turn into a dumber more acerbic version of itself.
I would rather have my next gen iphone have full bluetooth capabilities! Yes BLUETOOTH! not only it can send data from iphone to iphone but to other phones too like sending music, photos, etc. And yes radio on the iphone too! Juz like the ipod nano
I saw “NFC”, and thought “Nebraska Fried Chicken”.
-jcr
@ragarcia;
Now that was funny! I laughed at that one… thanks.
Ba-da-bing Ba-da-BANG
@Pablo
hahah you beat me to it!
Michael you ignorant slut,
Sure it only broadcasts an I’d number, no identifying information. But it always broadcasts that same I’d number.
So, I set up a system in my drug store to tie together your I’d number and the image on the surveilence camera. Now I know that number is from a 20’s something man from this zip code who, I tie in later, buys these products.
Now I sell that to Mario who buys such info from the whole region, ties it all together and sells his database to anyone with cash.
Boom. You no longer have privacy.
But it’s all okay because the RFID only sends out an I’d number. Yeah.
Here in Stockholm the public transportation system is now using Access cards that are a development of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
I find the card much easier to use than the swipe cards that we had previously. If Apple adds this type of functionality to the iPhone and iPod Touch, combined with an on-device reader that allows for balance inquiries and transferring money between the card and online bank accounts it will be a real game-changer.