NFC only works when there are readers in every shop. Maybe Nokia should pay for them.
The best thing about being a mobile journalist of great experience and intelligence (and, believe me, I know some) is the endless parade of innovation you're invited to view.
Some of it's brilliant, some of it is utter shit. And the trouble is, only time will tell you which is which.
If you could tell the difference from the get-go, you wouldn't be a journalist, you'd be the the best VC the world has ever seen, and there'd be a yacht in the post.
So when I read today that Barclaycard and Orange are set to collaborate on a new commercial NFC service in the UK this year, my mind went back to a major press event at a converted church in Marylebone (London) two years ago.
That was when Nokia, Barclaycard and O2 unveiled another big NFC gambit. I'd mentally put that one into the 'pending: shit' file after commuters consistently failed to wave their mobiles over non-existent readers in coffee shops.
Article continues belowAdvertisement
But, unlike mobile's other no-hopers – push-to-talk, Visual Radio, mobisodes – there was always something in NFC.
The success of Japan's Felica shows how well the tech can work. Over here, it's just the infrastructure that's lacking. That and awareness: clearly no one's going to use NFC without an almighty marketing effort.
Maybe a fresh push by Orange and Barclaycard – with some help from Android apps that can locate readers – will address this.
That was the impression I got when I bumped into Barclaycard's recently appointed mobile biz dev man John Conlon. Significantly, he used to head Virgin Mobile's content team, and he hinted that this year will be massive for mobile money.
I'll be watching carefully, as I can bore anyone senseless with my personal belief that mobile banking can and will be enormous.
Still, it'll be a big job to get handsets, banks, regulators and operators all pulling in the same direction.
Maybe one very rich company should just throw money at it. This is the opinion of former Nokia exec turned industry commentator Stefan Constantinescu.
In a fascinating blog he opines that this is exactly what Nokia should do – forget about Ovi and just pay to have point of sale units in shops all over the world, and put NFC in all its devices. Then take a minuscule share from every transaction and watch the money roll in.
Nokia used to be in rubber and forestry. No reason why it can't be in banking, says Constantinescu.
Nobody mention Visual Radio.
