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As an average end user, what specific problem is NFC going to solve for me? I just don't get it.

by JunkDNA 15y ago

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
mahyarm 15y ago
So eventually you don't have to carry a wallet.
arihant 15y ago
Remove million cards from my wallet. From bank to subway to airlines. Hell, this may remove the whole damn wallet.
auston 15y ago
I can think of one: http://shopulator.me http://shopulator.me "Shopulator lets you tabulate the running total on your grocery cart by tapping your phone against the product price tag as you put it in your cart. The information is stored in the "cloud" (aka the internet) so people can create grocery lists, shop collaboratively & more." disclaimer: i created shopulator.me
l_subbu 15y ago
When people talk about NFC, most people seem to be talking about only payments. The article talks about other uses as well for NFC. To me, NFC is a bridge between the real world and the virtual world. I look at an NFC tag on an object or a physical entity as really a door that leads to its digital manifestation in the virtual world. Some things are done better (or can only be done) in the real world and some are done better in the virtual world. For example, walking into a store to take a look at the product and try it out for yourself has to be done in the real world! However, finding out what others think about it or it's pricing history is better done online. What NFC does is marry the two worlds seamlessly. Where previously the user had to do this manually on his phone while at the store, a scan of the NFC tag could readily bring up all the relevant information. Bar codes and QR codes make this possible as well - so I cannot quite answer yet why NFC tags would be better for this. But there are other cases of active-active interactions (as opposed to active-passive interactions) where a passive bar code or QR code wouldn't be enough. A good example of this is authenticating someone in person where authentication relies on both the physical proximity (which is established with an NFC scan) and a crypto protocol to establish the identity that is best handled by your mobile device. Mobile payments happens to be one use-case of the active-active interaction where physical proximity is transformed to an interaction in the virtual world. Admittedly the biggest use-case though.
- blub 15y ago
  NFC is easier for the customer compared to bar codes. They just have to touch the tag, whereas with barcodes they have to use a scanning app and so on...

As an average end user, what specific problem is NFC going to solve for me? I just don't get it.

by JunkDNA 15y ago

As an average end user, what specific problem is NFC going to solve for me? I just don't get it.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

mahyarm 15y ago

So eventually you don't have to carry a wallet.

arihant 15y ago

Remove million cards from my wallet. From bank to subway to airlines. Hell, this may remove the whole damn wallet.

auston 15y ago

I can think of one: http://shopulator.me http://shopulator.me "Shopulator lets you tabulate the running total on your grocery cart by tapping your phone against the product price tag as you put it in your cart. The information is stored in the "cloud" (aka the internet) so people can create grocery lists, shop collaboratively & more." disclaimer: i created shopulator.me

l_subbu 15y ago

When people talk about NFC, most people seem to be talking about only payments. The article talks about other uses as well for NFC. To me, NFC is a bridge between the real world and the virtual world. I look at an NFC tag on an object or a physical entity as really a door that leads to its digital manifestation in the virtual world. Some things are done better (or can only be done) in the real world and some are done better in the virtual world. For example, walking into a store to take a look at the product and try it out for yourself has to be done in the real world! However, finding out what others think about it or it's pricing history is better done online. What NFC does is marry the two worlds seamlessly. Where previously the user had to do this manually on his phone while at the store, a scan of the NFC tag could readily bring up all the relevant information. Bar codes and QR codes make this possible as well - so I cannot quite answer yet why NFC tags would be better for this. But there are other cases of active-active interactions (as opposed to active-passive interactions) where a passive bar code or QR code wouldn't be enough. A good example of this is authenticating someone in person where authentication relies on both the physical proximity (which is established with an NFC scan) and a crypto protocol to establish the identity that is best handled by your mobile device. Mobile payments happens to be one use-case of the active-active interaction where physical proximity is transformed to an interaction in the virtual world. Admittedly the biggest use-case though.

blub 15y ago
NFC is easier for the customer compared to bar codes. They just have to touch the tag, whereas with barcodes they have to use a scanning app and so on...