Last year Google announced its mobile Wallet initiative and partnered up with companies like MasterCard Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to embed technology into Android mobile phones that would allow customers to make purchases by tapping their phones over an NFC-enabled point-of-sale system.
Other companies have since followed suite, and the market for mobile payments is growing significantly, with numbers around $618 billion by 2016, according to an Edgar, Dunn & Co. report.
Of course, before the technology truly takes off in a global and ubiquitous way, many believe firms will have to think seriously about the business model structures they plan to use. With banks, mobile operators, transport companies, and retailers all wanting a slice of the NFC pie, there’s little doubt the technology will see its fair share of service complexity issues, too.
For example, if phones are now also wallets, who would one call to report a theft? One’s bank or the mobile operator?
With many opportunities but also still many questions about NFC and its growing role, we took to the MWC show floor to get a bigger picture of what the technology could do. Take a look:
Not sure how that works with glasses, Jack. I still think the use of the PIN is very safe and very simple. I'm not convinced that other forms of recognition really improve much on that.
Let's go whole-hog - have an RFID chip implanted subcutaneously. We already do it for our pets; such a chip can be your PIN, and absolute proof of identity.
No need to implant a chip--we all have a fingerprint. Several years ago I asked a technology expert at fingerprint-sensor manufacturer why credit-card companies didn't use a finger scanner at checkouts and point-of-sale terminals. He answered that it would cost more to install them and maintain the databases than to have enough reserve cash to cover fraud. So I guess we must continue to use PINs for a while longer.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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