Not long after the Samsung Nexus S is presented as the replacment for credit cards, the NFC payment system hits a brick wall. Read on for more information on the current situation with NFC and your smartphone.
If your smartphone does not have the NFC ( Near Field Communication ) ability, it is lacking a new recent technology. At the same time, it is safer. Some large companies want to begin using NFC with their smartphones to bring in the era of paying for things that a current credit or debit card can pay for. They argue that it is safer. The reality is that they really do not know if it is safer or not. A recent hacking of the Google Nexus S by some Argentinian showed the vulnerability of NFC. A company named Gibraltar Software Factory went through the Google software code on the smartphone and found that Google had written some NFC applications into it. They changed the code a bit and realized that now their Google Samsung Nexus S could write support for NFC tags.
There is no doubt that a little tweak by a group that is not even a hacker group proves that NFC is not ready for prime time. This brings in the answer to the question; “What Keeps NFC From Working On Your Smartphone ?”. The answer is simple; bad people. Some call them, hackers and some call them crackers. The end result is that whatever you call them, there are some smart, destructive people in the world who would like nothing better than to steal your credit card information.
The statistics are clear that NFC is on the minds of the Japanese. They use NFC much more than their mobile American and European counterparts. A recent study of 1085 American people found that a very high 94 percent of respondents would use their phones for mobile payments if they knew it was secure to do so. The big word, of course, is the “if”. New technology that messes with your nest egg, especially in an economic depression, is not likely to take off like a rocket.
With the large companies like Nokia and Google pressing their influence onto the smartphones that are being sold, the public would be wise to take things slowly. Nokia has said that they will bring in a high percentage of their smartphones with NFC chips this year. They have already put an NFC chip in their C7 model last year. For some reason, it was “hidden” by Nokia, and remained unannounced after the C7 release. Google proclaimed with joy that their smartphone had a NFC chip.
As a balance to the 94 percent that said they will not use mobile payments, since it is not secure, some said they would soon. How soon? Within the next year. Of the same group questioned above, 82 percent said they see themselves making a mobile payment within the next twelve months. What will happen between then and now? Probably, a lot of propaganda about how safe NFC is. For now, the NFC behemoth is gearing up for its maiden voyage. The main group that is the most interested in NFC is the 25 to 34 year olds. Here is hoping this group is wise to the ways of the world.
