One of the biggest changes to emerge in the last year or so in mobile hardware is NFC, or Near Field Communications. And this is going to put a whole new edge on the mobile industry, especially for the small business.
Near Field Communications is a technology that allows cell phones to serve in a variety of different possible roles, including automatic coupon receivers, payment processors, and other connections systems with just a touch of a cell phone to another device. Basically, Near Field Communications allow you to touch your cell phone to another device to exchange information in either direction.
Naturally, this does a whole host of things for your small business. You can set up coupon stations near products you want to call attention to, you can set up information kiosks that don’t need to be manned by employees and disseminate information to mobile devices at a touch, and plenty more besides. You have a variety of possibilities here, and integrating them into your business will not only prove relatively easy but also offer up great potential for versatility.
The only down side here is that Near Field Communications is not, as yet, in wide use in many cell phones. There are only about twenty devices or so that even have Near Field Communcations capability enabled, and few of them are particularly popular. While the Blackberry Bold 9900 would quality, as would the Google Nexus S and the Samsung Galaxy S II, it’s hard to get so enthused about the Nokia 6216 Classic or the LG 600V.
Near Field Communications will do a lot of impressive things to the mobile contact industry, not to mention small businesses. But this is a development that has yet to reach its fullest, so the best thing you can do is keep an eye on the concept and look for wider acceptance.
Related keywords: Near Field Communications, small business, information kiosk, automation