What is the NFC chip in a Smartphones?

NFC is an abbreviation for near field communication..

The main purpose of NFC technology is to allow two devices to communicate or connect with each other by touching them (also known as bumping or tapping) or by bringing them together within a close proximity of each other..
NFC is a short range wireless communication technology that usually requires a distance of just about 10 cms or less..

Communication is also possible between a NFC enabled device and an un powered NFC chip, known as a NFC tag..

The NFC tags contain data that is only readable, but may be re writable..They usually have customized encoding from their manufactures.

Since NFC tags do not require a power source, they can be embedded into forms like stickers, key chains, etc...

Well nearly all the high-end top range smartphones now come with the NFC chip in them and some even along with a set of NFC tags..

The first I heard about them was from Nokia...now Sony and Samsung use them in their phones as well along with unique custom application uses, like the S Beam in Samsung and the tap to play music in Sony and Nokia...

Apple with their iPhones is the only one who has yet to adopt this new and latest trending technology...

Typically a NFC enabled device is used to pass information from one device to another..

You might use it to pass on data or information from one smart phone to another or a NFC tag to a smart phone or from a smart phone to a payment device...

Yes, i said payment device... The latest and most talked about use of NFC chips in smartphones is that you can just tap your phone to a POS (point of sale) device....the device where you swipe your debit and credit cards, and your payment will be complete..

NFC technology is being adopted by retail stores and banks into their cash registers, atm machines and the credit/ debit card machines, which enables for a contact-less payment process..

Your debit or credit card data can be stored in the NFC chip in your smartphone and the NFC chip in the debit/ credit machines reads this data and your payments get completed.. This helps get rid of carry around all your debit and credit cards and worrying about them getting lost or misplaced..

NFC chips are not only used for payments, but also for various other functions like bumpin your phone into another phone to transfer files, contacts, enable your Wifi when required..

Bumping or tapping your phone to a friend's automatically pairs your device's blue tooth to theirs and starts file transfers, etc...

The latest and most recent application in the smartphone world with NFC chips by Sony and Nokia is whilst playing music on your phone, tapping or bumping your phone to a NFC enabled speaker and the speaker automatically starts playing the music or audio that is on your smartphone.. Amazing ain't it?

NFC tags have a great potential in the field of advertising, where advertisers can store the data in the tags, which can be embedded into key chains, stickers or even wristbands... Users just need to put their device near the tag and get the data onto their phone..

The same thing can be applied in the retail sector where commodities can have NFC tags instead of bar codes and users just need to tap or put their device near the tag and get all the info about the item instantly...