How is NFC used? Written on the iphone finally fully supports NFC reading and writing today

NFC IoT Development Consultant: https://consult.revtel.tech/

In fact, this article should have been written a year ago, after all, iOS support for full NFC read and write functions was on September 19, 2019 (iOS 13).

However, after a year, there is more room for observation and thinking (Extended reading: The technology of blockchain materialization - Blockchain + NFC ).

What is NFC?

Let's first introduce what NFC is, and excerpt from Wikipedia 's introduction

Near-field communication (NFC), also referred to as short-range communication or near-field communication , is a set of communication protocols that allow two electronic devices (one of which is usually a mobile device, such as a smartphone) to communicate Communicate within a few centimeters of each other.

NFC allows two devices to perform contactless point-to-point transmission within a short distance, and the more common scenarios are payment applications such as EasyCard and credit card.

But if you think about it, you will find that the scope of application can actually be wider. Because most high-end mobile phones already support NFC read and write functions. In today's world with one hand-held device, this technology of short-distance information exchange has unlimited imagination.

The Dilemma of NFC Popularization in the Past — Not Supported by iOS

Why is such an explanatory interactive situation still tepid after more than ten years? A possible reason should be that iOS does not support NFC operation.

In the years from 2008 to 2012, many new operating systems appeared, some were open sourced by companies, some were initiated by the community, and some were commercial killers launched in response to the rise of the mobile market. At that time, the author, who was studying in the Wireless Network Laboratory of Embedded Systems of the Information Institute, had a very strange feeling that in this era, if you didn't get your own operating system, it seemed that you couldn't stand on the rivers and lakes .

But the general trend of the world will be divided for a long time, and the resources will eventually flow into the two camps of Android headed by Google and iOS headed by Apple.

The rise of a technology is sometimes not related to its own superiority to other analogies, but to the business environment behind it.

Not sure why Apple didn't integrate the NFC function in the early years, but it caused two situations when iOS did not support it:

1. Users with more than half of the mobile device experience are relatively concentrated and have no daily experience with NFC (there are many Android devices, and the experience is different)

2. Most of the users are a group of people with relatively high consumption levels (there is no intention to evaluate users here, just supplementary objective data such as per capita consumption)

The comeback of NFC - a new start of dual-platform collusion

This matter finally appeared at the end of 2014 when Apple began to support APPLE PAY .

After that, Apple first opened it to general applications to be able to read tags, and finally opened the function of NFC writing tags at the end of 2019. So far, NFC has officially entered the mobile device!

Apple's consistent style is to create a seamless and excellent user experience by connecting software and hardware. They also proposed a lightweight interactive situation like APP Clips in 2020. In this scenario, NFC technology acts as the starting point for the interaction to begin.

This seems to be cool to Android platform users, but in fact, Android already has the same NFC control ability as early as ten years ago!

We can almost assert that technologies that are equally valued by both camps should bloom in the foreseeable future.

Some thoughts on how NFC is used

In the past, our team has assisted in the introduction of NFC applications in many fields, ranging from toys, production history to blockchain applications . Here are some self-observations from our experience.

• Excellent carrier of brand impression

In the past ten years, the promotion of brand concepts on mobile devices naturally comes to APP. But a cruel problem is that the invasiveness of the APP will make the promotion of the installation extremely difficult. Even if the user installs it, does the sea of dazzling APPs on the desktop really achieve the promotion intention? If NFC is properly integrated into physical items such as membership cards, the effect of taking into account the connection between virtual and reality is several times that of APP.

• The best medium for a continuous marketing program

The use of NFC requires users to touch the tag with their mobile phone as a starting point. This normative behavior can achieve a certain degree of physical memory in marketing. If the hot update function of cloud tags is integrated, a marketing cycle that extends to infinity can be created. Imagine how amazing a concert ticket is before it starts, but turns into a hardcore member ID card after the event.

• Thing-centric interaction becomes possible

In the more than ten years since the rise of mobile devices, information technology has made incredible empowerment of human abilities. But the interactive forms of daily life are not always people-centered, and things-centered situations abound. This also explains why the Internet of Things and the recent blockchain NFT ( non-fungible token ) are hot. NFC, which does not require power to function in these scenarios, is the best virtual-real interface. When your limited edition doll has a certificate that cannot be tampered with, how high is the value of subsequent transactions and collections?

the end is just the beginning

This article only makes a brief description of some background knowledge and past experience. I hope that it can inspire everyone to think about the infinite development of NFC technology in the future. If you have different opinions and views, you are welcome to communicate with us to explore new possibilities.

additional materials

1. Xinlv Technology's react native nfc sample code

2. React-native-nfc-manager of Xinlv Technology CTO Richie