So it's been almost a year with NFC...

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

And I have yet to use it on my Nexus S. Overhyped?

Oh and Wallet only works with the Sprint Nexus S. So what the fuck is the point of this technology again? I can't use it on my phone with a stock ROM. Even some ROM that I have that bundled it doesn't allow me to use it...

The test ICS build on Nexus S works wonderfully but the Wallet fails.

So there's all this talk about NFC, but I've only seen it at ONE location so far where they will take Google Wallet.

 

[Dulanic]

Because US carriers suck mostly. But you aren't going to chance a payment system overnight either.

 

[slayernine]

Early adopters never get the full benefit of their purchase in comparison to the Jonny-come-lately's that buy their phone when NFC actually shows up in retail locations.

 

[zerocool84]

I've used it tons of times because I have the Sprint Nexus S. It's still just a novelty though since it's not widespread enough. The thing is though it has to start somewhere and many big companies like Nokia and Visa are starting their own so it's definitely going to pick up soon.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The only Nexus S that works with Google Wallet is the Sprint one, not even the worldwide one...

So really there are no phones worldwide that can use it either... Winner? I like how Google demos a lot of tech, but more often than not it just gets abandoned or left behind.

 

[alent1234]

Stores love their own prepaid cards due to less cc fees paid. What's the point of investing for NFC?

 

[Dulanic]

Stores love their own prepaid cards due to less cc fees paid. What's the point of investing for NFC?

... what? And how do people usually buy these said prepaid cards? Oh that's right usually on a credit card. Do you seriously think credit card as a payment is going away?

 

[Mopetar]

Just wait for Apple to put it in the iPhone so they market the hell out of it and people start to care. It's kind of silly, but they're a large force in the industry and the feature will be available on every new handset they sell as opposed to a few models.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Just wait for Apple to put it in the iPhone so they market the hell out of it and people start to care. It's kind of silly, but they're a large force in the industry and the feature will be available on every new handset they sell as opposed to a few models.

I feel like that's how it's been. Apple's driven the industry successfully. No one cared about front facing cameras til Facetime made it big. Heck we had front facing cameras in 2006 or so on the Nokia N-series phones.

NFC was such a big thing last year at the Nexus Launch but it took til summer for the wallet app to come out and even now it's useless. So the new Galaxy Nexus advertises NFC Bump and a lot of other things. Maybe that will take off? Who knows.

The funny thing is all that Paypass/Blink/RFID-based stuff hasn't taken off. I remember the Paypass card going around in 2007 or so on Citi. However, with my most recent updates, my Chase Freedom lost Blink and my Citi Dividend lost Paypass. So if anything this whole touch-based payment is not taking off. Given that the same terminals are used for RFID credit cards as NFC, I don't see how NFC is going to take off anywhere in the US.

As for NFC in Asia, is it really NFC? I see the subway cards used EVERYWHERE in Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, but seriously a lot of people still pay in cash in Taiwan and Korea, even if 90% of the population has a subway card. Furthermore, it's a subway card, it's not a credit card. Credit cards are not as popular in Asia. I can swipe for everything in the US from something as small as a 99 cent bag of chips at 7-11 to a $2000 TV here, but I see it rarely used overseas still. For example, eating with friends we'll credit card roulette here or split credit cards... but I've always seen cash payments done with my cousins when they take me out.

So while you see a lot of RFID payment terminals in Asia, I don't know if that means they'll jump straight to credit card NFC payments. Otherwise all the worldwide phones like the SGS2 would've had NFC and there would've been some NFC payment service other than Google developed and already popular in Asia.

 

[soccerballtux]

I hope it takes off. I would love to bring the phone with me ditch the wallet when going out

 

[soccerballtux]

Just wait for Apple to put it in the iPhone so they market the hell out of it and people start to care. It's kind of silly, but they're a large force in the industry and the feature will be available on every new handset they sell as opposed to a few models.

that's actually a huge revenue growth opportunity for them. Imagine if 3 million people started charging things on their cellphone instead of their Amex.

 

[Dominato3r]

Yea, I agree with the Apple thing. If they bring it, it might take off.

 

[hans007]

nfc will probably be worthwhile in like 3 years. i wouldn't change my decision on a phone today over it though.

i have a friend with nfc and all he's ever done with it is scan his credit cards that have that "wave" thing on them and some pop up would come up. and other than that its been useless. but im sure 3-5 years from now maybe itll be something.

 

[Raduque]

On the one hand, I say "meh" to anything that's been shown with regards to the current examples of NFC.

I hope it takes off. I would love to bring the phone with me ditch the wallet when going out

On the other hand, this. Won't be able to completely ditch the wallet, cause of ID/DL, but if Case-Mate would make these for more handsets.... http://www.case-mate.com/iPhone-4-4S-Cases/Case-Mate-iPhone-4-4S-ID-Credit-Card-Cases.asp

 

[akugami]

Stores love their own prepaid cards due to less cc fees paid. What's the point of investing for NFC?

The fees are not what's stopping newer ways of paying such as NFC. It's the fact that a standard CC terminal is usually the cheapest one and it usually has no NFC module. The retailer can pay for a higher end terminal...but good luck selling a higher end terminal to support NFC which is a new technology and barely supported.

Kinda reminds me of the smart chips inside the credit cards. They've been around for years and I think I used it less than 10 times total.

I'm also not too keen on having payments tied to my phone and having the possibility of getting my phone swiped while I'm talking on it and then having to worry about my credit/bank accounts being charged.

 

[Deeko]

There were tons of features on my Nokia N95 that went largely unused, due to a lack of mass adoption / carrier support. Front facing camera, for instance. That's the price you pay for having cutting edge hardware...the support probably isn't there yet.

 

[zerocool84]

I'm also not too keen on having payments tied to my phone and having the possibility of getting my phone swiped while I'm talking on it and then having to worry about my credit/bank accounts being charged.

Your phone can't be swiped, you have to input a PIN to use your card as NFC payment.

 

[Demo24]

I'm also not too keen on having payments tied to my phone and having the possibility of getting my phone swiped while I'm talking on it and then having to worry about my credit/bank accounts being charged.

Not possible, the NFC chip does not store any information until it is activated(at very close range) on a terminal. Just like you don't need to worry about your passport (unless someone actually gets ahold of it, or is able to put something within inches), you won't need to worry about the nfc chip in your phone.

 

[QueBert]

NFC's whatever, Square Up has it implemented the way it should be done, but their system won't ever be widely used. Not only can I use my phone to pay for something from a store that uses Square Up, but since my account has my pic on it, when I buy it the checker see's the pic and there's no pin needed. and not even a signature is needed unless it's above a certain $$$, where I think it's then required by law.

I've used it a few times, loved buying something without having to show any ID or even take my phone out of my pocket. I also like that when I'm in an area I can load up the Square Up app and it'll show me on the map all the locations in the area where I can use it.

 

[akugami]

Your phone can't be swiped, you have to input a PIN to use your card as NFC payment.

Good to know. The ads/propaganda always makes it seem as if all you do is hold your phone near and you're good to go.

Not possible, the NFC chip does not store any information until it is activated(at very close range) on a terminal. Just like you don't need to worry about your passport (unless someone actually gets ahold of it, or is able to put something within inches), you won't need to worry about the nfc chip in your phone.

War driving for passports
Which reminds me...I don't even know where the hell my passport is...and it's got the new RFID chips in it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So if you have to enter a damn PIN, I don't see the purpose of this other than wallet thinning. It's not going to be any faster, and if RFID credit cards didn't really take off, I don't see how this will. I guess it's got better security.

As much as people like to say Asia has this largely adopted, its still with cards, not with cell phones. And it's using RFID tech like on your credit card. The only reason it's taken off so well is because the subway cards are used by EVERYONE. Given the horrendous state of the subways in US cities and the few people who use them, let alone use a metro/subway card... I don't know.

Anyway, it's neat tech, but given how it works, I don't see how much slower I'll be whipping out my CC. Furthermore, if you need to select which CC you use on your phone, it's like choosing the right CC out of my wallet (you gotta use the right ones for the cashback bonuses at certain stores!).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

whats worse is by default NFC is on my phone, and when my phone touches my wallet, it collects NFC tags from my damn subway cards and student IDs and drains battery unnecessarily (which begs the question... if I actively use NFC, then I also need to keep my phone away from credit cards and stuff?)

 

[slayernine]

Just wait for Apple to put it in the iPhone so they market the hell out of it and people start to care. It's kind of silly, but they're a large force in the industry and the feature will be available on every new handset they sell as opposed to a few models.

Apple isn't even close to the largest provider of smart phones so why would they lead the industry in pushing change. More like when retail locations adapt NFC Apple will come out with an ad campaign telling everyone how they invented NFC and how theirs is better because it has an Apple logo on it.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm excited about NFC and I could care less about the payment feature. I look forward to being able to quickly share any number of things with fellow Android users. NFC needs to be incorporated into more and more handsets, but to get there we have to go through a period where not many have them at first.

 

[alent1234]

... what? And how do people usually buy these said prepaid cards? Oh that's right usually on a credit card. Do you seriously think credit card as a payment is going away?

i load my starbucks card and pay $25 SB gets charged once. i buy coffee with a cc once a day and starbucks will get charged every single transaction. since there is a minimum fee they will save money if people use their cards since a lot of them also use cash to refill them.

and they can market to these customers with free drinks and food

starbucks buys the NFC terminals and people use phones instead of cards, unless they somehow save on CC fees with NFC there is no return on investment