{Playing with NFC API of Android}

NFC, or near field communication, is an emerging technology that will power mobile payment systems and Mobile wallet system. Google, Nokia, Microsoft, Apple and other big players are making concentrated effort in getting the solutions into main stream. But NFC itself is just a way to send data wirelessly between devices, meaning it can be used for far more than mobile payments alone.

NFC on mobile phone will not only enable with card payment solutions, but it will also enable other solutions like device as Tag reader or in Peer to Peer data transfer.

Android latest release 2.3 has some set of API exposed for card reading, which is capable of reading various tags like Text record, URL record, or smart poster tag. The support for P2P communication is not yet available through the API.

With this limited set of capability available, one could still build some interesting use cases. If you have NFC equipped phone like Nexus-S and get hold of Some tags. In below video, we have tried to make use of the available API to read the Tag info of smart poster and retrieve the information from background web server.

Click here to Watch Video

Interesting applications can be built around the current capability of Andriod device like:

Provide the personal advertisement tags in conferences, so that your client can directly go to your website with simple swipe.
Stick the tags in shops, so user carrying the phone can swipe on tag to get the details of the product may see some promotion video on the product.
Enabling the Guest carrying NFC tag reader app to hook into your wifi network if you have tag storing needed access parameter.
Change the device setting, like stick tag in meeting room door, so when user swipes there phone while entering the device goes to silent automatically.
True sharing applications can be easily be built once we have full support like Peer to Peer share, instant BT paring, touch triggered sharing, Vcard exchange, and many others.

Easy access of tags to general public coupled with full support by leading OS vendors will bring the NFC into mainstream in wider markets quickly.

More info on NFC can be obtained at

http://www.nfc-forum.org/home/