Nokia’s buddied up with Transport for London, Barclays and a bunch of other big-name companies to launch its first Near Field Communication phone in the UK, letting a select bunch of trialists use it as an Oyster travel pass and Visa credit card. All well and good we say, but where’s the real innovation? Here are five much better uses we can think of for the technology.
Personalised bus travel
Yeah, it’s great that this new Nok can get us onto the bus, but our travel cards could already do that. What’d be really great is if we could tell the phone where we wanted to get off and have it vibrate when we’re approaching the right stop. The NFC phone could handshake with the bus as it was swiped, swapping Bluetooth IDs and our desired destination, so the bus could tell us when we’re about to arrive. It’d be kind of like having your very own, very big, taxi… except you’d have to share with other people… and that it might smell a bit of wee. Oh well, you can’t have everything!
Smart cars
When we jump in the car we want it to know who we are, adjust the seat, re-tune the radio and even load our favourite destinations onto the satnav. An NFC reader in the driver’s seat could accomplish all that easily, without us fishing our phone from its pocket, but it’s not the only possibility. What about NFC parking meters that pluck your vehicle’s registration from the phone, deduct the right amount from your built-in credit card, and then tell traffic wardens to leave it alone. Wouldn’t that be better than dashing back across a wet and windy car park with a half-legible ticket and balancing it on the dashboard?
Easy ordering
Imagine a walking into a coffee shop, ordering a drink on your handset and then setting it down on the table. The handset’s NFC innards could pass on all the relevant data (including which table you’ve chosen), pay for the drink and have it brought to you in double-quick time.
Friendly repayments
How often have you borrowed a tenner from a friend, but needed to visit a cashpoint later to pay it back? Wouldn’t it be better if you could ‘beam’ it from your credit card to theirs, just using the power of NFC? A PIN code would protect you from unauthorised transfers, and you’d never need to trudge to the cashpoint again!
Automatic reminders
NFC technology can embed data on a handset as well as read from it. That means a calendar event could be handed over whenever we pay for something but need to return later. Drop off your dry cleaning, pay in advance for theatre tickets or even book a flight and the exact details of the time you need to return will be implanted on your handset. You’ll never be late again, whether or not you remember to make a note of your appointments!