Mobilkom Austria is selling the Nokia 6212 Classic handset along with four pre-programmed Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags that consumers can utilize to access specific services. Mobilkom is the first cell phone service provider to bundle an NFC-enabled phone together with the NFC tags; in so doing, the company hopes to spur adoption of NFC technology.
An NFC-compliant tag stores a unique ID number and other data, then transmits that information in an encrypted format at 13.56 MHz. An NFC-enabled phone can act as an interrogator that reads passive 13.56 MHz tags based on the ISO 18092, ISO 14443 (A or B) and Sony FeliCa air-interface protocols, culling the data from the tags. The device can also share encrypted payment data and other information with computer terminals.
Mobilkom Austria began selling the phone-and-tag package to consumers last month. The NFC RFID tags offered by Mobilkom are manufactured by Innovision. A customer can read any of the tags by holding them up to the Nokia handset. According to Werner Reiter, a spokesperson for Mobilkom Austria, when the phone reads a tag, data encoded to that tag instructs the phone to launch a specific application or link to a particular Web page, thereby saving the user time and avoiding the hassle of navigating to the app or site manually. While Mobilkom indicates it’s still too early to track sales of the package and how purchasers are using the tags, the company reports that customers have thus far responded favorably to the convenience the tags offer.
One of the tags links the phone directly to a Web site at which users can purchase ring tones, pictures and animations for their phones. Another links to a page maintained by the Austrian Automobile, Motorcycle and Touring Club (ÖAMTC), which posts current traffic information and fuel prices. A third tag connects to online sports news provided by Laola1.
But the tag that delivers the biggest bang is one that enables users to order and store tickets for ÖBB, which provides train service throughout Austria. What makes this application unique is that once a consumer uses the tag to call up ÖBB’s online ticket application and purchase a ticket, that information is stored directly on the phone and can be accessed by a train conductor carrying a phone containing a mobile NFC reader—even if the passenger’s phone is turned off or its battery is exhausted.
The ticket is validated after a train conductor holds her NFC mobile phone up to that of the passenger. The conductor’s phone functions in this case as an RFID interrogator, whereas the NFC module in the passenger’s phone acts as a tag. This works even when the user is engaged in a phone call, Mobilkom Austria notes. (For a short video—in German—showing how the system functions, click here.)
The ticket-issuing system was tested successfully during a two-month pilot program with ÖBB commuters that began in January 2009, prompting the cell phone service provider to make the ticket application part of its Nokia NFC package. In time, the company may begin offering additional pre-programmed tags as well.
Purchasing transit tickets is one of the most widely deployed NFC applications, offered in a number of markets, including London (see O2 Subscribers Use Phones to Make Purchases, Access Info) and Frankfurt (see Frankfurt Widens Its NFC-Enabled Transit Network) for commuters carrying NFC phones.
In the United States, a number of cities’ transit systems, including San Francisco’s BART system (see SF’s Transit System Offers Commuters Fast Access to Subways and Sandwiches) are beginning to offer transit fare payments using NFC phones. In North America, however, phones with NFC capability are still difficult to come by. A phone-and-tag package similar to that offered by Mobilkom Austria, which provides not only the phones but also methods for consumers to immediately begin employing the NFC capabilities, would likely help encourage wider adoption of the technology within the United States.