The NFC Forum has added some high profile vendors its ranks. Recently, Sharp, ZTE, and HTC joined the non-profit organization that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Other notable participants include Barclaycard and Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T.
All three are primarily Android phone makers and are likely to use NFC support there first. HTC and ZTE also make Windows Phones and may want to use NFC if and when it becomes available out of Microsoft’s OS.
In addition to promoting technology, the NFC forum drives the standards, provides public education, and strives for interoperability between NFC-enabled devices. Although primarily thought of as a means of enabling contactless exchange of information for purchases, the technology also can be used to read RFID tags, create dynamically changing targeted “smart posters,” and for device-to-device data swaps.
