#MicroSD to Transform Cell Phones into Debit Cards

In Asia people have already been paying their tabs with their cell phones, by virtue of near-field communications (NFC) where you swipe you phone to pay, but worldwide expansion of the system may be deployed on special SD cards. Look for U.S. customers paying their bills by swiping their mobile device within two years. R.C.J.


Here's what ABI says about their own report: MicroSD Offers a New Approach to NFC, Says ABI Research, Mobile contactless payments and a wealth of other applications enabled by Near Field Communication are coming to mobile handsets over the next 12 months, but not in the format originally envisioned. A lack of commercially available NFC-embedded handsets combined with the rise of mobile handsets with microSD slots has helped shape a new approach to NFC that promises to bypass both handset vendors’ and mobile network operators’ core involvement. ABI Research’s latest NFC study splits NFC IC forecasts into three key NFC markets: mobile handsets, computer and consumer electronics, and peripherals for mobile handsets. These three markets combined will help drive significant NFC uptake, and NFC ICs will approach 300 million shipments in 2015. Last year more NFC ICs shipped for use in computers and peripherals than for handsets, and a new alternative platform is also emerging. New microSD offerings with NFC functionality are coming to market, joining stickers as a way to bring contactless connectivity to existing mobile handsets...
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