NFC now supports Device-to-device Data Transfers – Swapping Music in the Castle of My Skin

For I, who hold sage Homes’ rule the best,

Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest

Pope, Satires, II

The NFC Forum, which oversees NFC (Near Field Communication) the proximity protocol for smartphones that is to eliminate people’s need for a wallet full of Credit Cards via Google Wallet as described in my blog  article entitled “Telecom Provider, Apple, Google and NFC - In Her Majesty's Secret Service”, is a much needed alternative to unsecure RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

But as my article points out, it was mainly good for passive Simplex Data interactions related to financial transactions, usually involving a NFC enabled smartphone or NFC sticker and a receiving NFC Reader upon which the smartphone has to be placed.

Now good news comes via the way of a DigitalTrends article entitled “NFC update expands on mobile sharing technology”, published October 1 2011 by Mike Flacey, DigitalTrends which point to the coming of Device-to-Device Data Transfers, roughly ten (10) months since Google announces its support for NFC technology in the Google Nexus S.

Effectively, you can now Half Duplex Data Transfers between smartphones or other devices enabled with the NDEF protocol that powers NFC as I had predicted in my blog  article entitled “Google Wallet & Offers vs Square & PayPal - SME's International FlashDance” .

This will have many, especially Millennials [ages 18 to 28], excited , as it may herald a superfast Data Transfer method that does not require a Data Plan or a USB Cable and is Wireless but faster than Bluetooth. More importantly, it can reliably transfer large Data files without error rapidly at 100MBps speeds, the only proviso being that the devices have to be within 4cm of each other.

Combined with its stellar security features built on the sturdy bedrock of WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) as outlined in my blog article entitled “AT&T, NFC, and M2M - Cashless Society and the Internet of Things”, the applications are endless.

Evolving from secure Debit and Credit Card transactions to Movie and music Transfers in mere seconds between device may seem like a minor upgrade to get excited about on my blog, but any Wireless Protocol that is low energy and does its Data Transfers independent of a third-party Telecom Provider Network will be a hit with Millennials, despite its potential to fuel point-to-point Digital Video and Music Piracy.

But there is little to worry about. The ISP, Telecom Providers and Cable Providers and their Copyright Alert System and it six-strikes-you’re-out policy as outlined in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat” have already put  The Hurt Locker (2008) on any Milennials plans to use their mobile devices for mass point-to-point Digital Video and Music Piracy.

Plus the very nature of NFC, which only allows proximity Data Transfers, effectively makes mass piracy a cumbersome touch-feely experience of having to transfer Data from device to device via physically placing device atop each other to satisfy the 4cm proximity requirement.

This as Mozido Jamaica may be going the Google Wallet route to enable the unbanked with the power to do Banking transactions with their remittances as noted in my blog article entitled “Mozido Jamaica Limited and Mobile Payments - Plants and Zombies say the Gods must be Crazy”,  In the Castle of my Skin Style.

I am hoping to hear more developments with regards to NFC in the coming months, especially in its application here in Jamaica, specifically from the Banking Community, as it provides a means for the Unbanked to become a part of the Banking System.