5 ms·

I hate regional and/or carrier limitations and branding. With a passion. That said: Was anyone actually excited about Google Wallet? I have to admit that I hav

I hate regional and/or carrier limitations and branding. With a passion. That said: Was anyone actually excited about Google Wallet? I have to admit that I haven't found a use case for NFC that doesn't directly turn me off yet. Where would that work? How would that replace any current purchase (I mean - realistically) and gain adoption? It immediately reminded me of the chips on our direct debit cards we have in a number of EU countries. You can load money "on your card" on most ATM and for a while everyone tried to use that as the next way to pay, the big innovation. Hell, McDonald's let you pay like that. Before the trend died, quickly. At least in DE that sort of stuff is dead for all I know. Why NFC? Why combining your wallet and phone? (Edit: The question above was genuine: I fail to understand why anyone would be excited about NFC in general but more so about Google Wallet. Downvote all you want, but please consider educating me with a comment as well, explaining why and how I'm wrong)

nodata 15y ago
I see NFC as potentially good for profiles. At work? The NFC token on your desk is noticed by your phone and switches to your work profile. In the car? Bluetooth and GPS on. Leaving the car? Turn it off and remember where you left your car. Etc.
- darklajid 15y ago
  So - that's already something that wifi or bluetooth could do for you, right? With 'Locale' or similar applications? Granted, those options would draw more power. On the other hand: As far as I understand NFC is _really_ limited in terms of distance between the endpoints. Wouldn't your examples require you to place the phone in a specific place in the car/at work? Like (for the car) one of these mounts for example? Your examples wouldn't work for me at least, because the phone's in my pocket or ~somewhere~, not really in a place that is carefully planned for. You seem to want a general version of the Palm/HP Touchstone it seems, albeit without charging?
  - nodata 15y ago
    Yes you're right. My NFC solution is a workaround for the power problem.
- e40 15y ago
  I see NFC as potentially good for profiles. There's an app I use called "Settings Profile" which works wonderfully. I have a cell tower event that knows when I'm at work and switches to my work profile (lower volume ringing, different ring tone, etc). It doesn't use just one tower, it uses 3, so it's very specific to the region of my office. It has a lot of other features. For example, when I plug into power, I turn on Wi-Fi, which causes my podcasts to start downloading (only happens on Wi-Fi). The other thing I do: mute my ringer during scheduled meetings. This app is in my top 5.
  - nodata 15y ago
    Cell towers works relatively well, until they take one off-line for maintenance...
    - e40 15y ago
      Well, I can say that while at work I've never had my locale fail to detect properly, so this must be a really rare thing in my 'hood.
18pfsmt 15y ago
Your anecdote about adoption of chip+PIN+stored_value in the EU is interesting, and we still don't really have chip+PIN (ISO 7816) in the US. However, you might be surprised that in the US we do have contactless POS devices (NFC-ISO 18092, ISO 14443) at McDonalds, Jack in the Box, most transit terminals, Regal theaters, 7-elevens, among other locations. The idea of having one chip that resides in your phone is appealing compared to carrying several cards with embedded ICs. And, since the US has skipped the whole chip+PIN phase, this will be the technology that brings IC-based payments to the US. Imagine landing at an airport, virtually checking-in, and having your hotel room key sent to your phone which can then be used to open your hotel room without ever going to a front desk. That is something a simple card can't do.

nodata 15y ago

I see NFC as potentially good for profiles. At work? The NFC token on your desk is noticed by your phone and switches to your work profile. In the car? Bluetooth and GPS on. Leaving the car? Turn it off and remember where you left your car. Etc.

darklajid 15y ago
So - that's already something that wifi or bluetooth could do for you, right? With 'Locale' or similar applications? Granted, those options would draw more power. On the other hand: As far as I understand NFC is _really_ limited in terms of distance between the endpoints. Wouldn't your examples require you to place the phone in a specific place in the car/at work? Like (for the car) one of these mounts for example? Your examples wouldn't work for me at least, because the phone's in my pocket or ~somewhere~, not really in a place that is carefully planned for. You seem to want a general version of the Palm/HP Touchstone it seems, albeit without charging?
- nodata 15y ago
  Yes you're right. My NFC solution is a workaround for the power problem.
e40 15y ago
I see NFC as potentially good for profiles. There's an app I use called "Settings Profile" which works wonderfully. I have a cell tower event that knows when I'm at work and switches to my work profile (lower volume ringing, different ring tone, etc). It doesn't use just one tower, it uses 3, so it's very specific to the region of my office. It has a lot of other features. For example, when I plug into power, I turn on Wi-Fi, which causes my podcasts to start downloading (only happens on Wi-Fi). The other thing I do: mute my ringer during scheduled meetings. This app is in my top 5.
- nodata 15y ago
  Cell towers works relatively well, until they take one off-line for maintenance...
  - e40 15y ago
    Well, I can say that while at work I've never had my locale fail to detect properly, so this must be a really rare thing in my 'hood.

18pfsmt 15y ago

Your anecdote about adoption of chip+PIN+stored_value in the EU is interesting, and we still don't really have chip+PIN (ISO 7816) in the US. However, you might be surprised that in the US we do have contactless POS devices (NFC-ISO 18092, ISO 14443) at McDonalds, Jack in the Box, most transit terminals, Regal theaters, 7-elevens, among other locations. The idea of having one chip that resides in your phone is appealing compared to carrying several cards with embedded ICs. And, since the US has skipped the whole chip+PIN phase, this will be the technology that brings IC-based payments to the US. Imagine landing at an airport, virtually checking-in, and having your hotel room key sent to your phone which can then be used to open your hotel room without ever going to a front desk. That is something a simple card can't do.