The NFC Forum, the industry association for near field communications...
The NFC Forum, the industry association for near field communications technology, approved and adopted the NFC analog technical specification, which it said is a “major step” toward global interoperability. The spec addresses the analog characteristics of the radio frequency interface…
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of an NFC-enabled device, specifying the externally observable radio signals for an NFC-enabled device without specifying the design of its antenna, the forum said. Covered areas include power requirements (determining operating volume), transmission requirements, receiver requirements and signal forms (time/frequency/modulation characteristics), it said. The spec provides a common interface to the NFC chip, giving manufacturers greater flexibility to use NFC chips from different suppliers without putting device interoperability at greater risk, it said. A spokeswoman for the NFC Forum told us the analog specification gives device manufacturers “the information they need to build NFC-enabled devices and still maintain complete freedom to choose the RF antenna that best meets their needs.” Because it takes “one more variable” out of the product development cycle, it will speed product development and get more NFC-enabled devices onto the market, she said. The analog spec release “fills in the last remaining piece of the NFC puzzle for device manufacturers,” she said, giving them “virtually everything they need to know” to design, develop, and manufacture NFC-enabled devices that deliver on the promise of NFC. The contactless connectivity technology has current and future applications in consumer electronics, healthcare, information collection and exchange, loyalty and coupons, mobile payments and transport, according to the forum. Rumors went back and forth prior to the debut of the iPhone 5 last month about whether it would have NFC. All Things D recently quoted Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on why the phone doesn’t include NFC. “It’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem,” he said, adding that Apple’s new Passbook feature “does the kinds of things customers need today."