How would you fancy using your phone as an Oyster card, bus pass or credit card? You could be doing that as soon as next year if the Symbian Foundation follows through on the plans it’s announced this week to sew NFC (Near Field Communication) tech inside next-gen versions of its Symbian operating system. Read on for the full details.
It’s the third annual Way We Live Next Nokia development conference in Finland this week, and on hand to talk about Symbian, the OS which powers most Nokia handsets, was Shaun Puckrin, head of community support at the Symbian Foundation. He revealed that NFC, which allows for short range wireless communication between gizmos, would play a key part in S^3 and S^4 Symbian releases, with the first handsets to support it arriving in the second half of next year.
Developers voice fears for Symbian
Not only will phone manufacturers such as Nokia, which already dabbles in NFC payments through phones, be able to take advantage of the technology, but third party developers too.
Symbian says there will be an API to help shoehorn Oyster-style technology into any app. That means you could use your Symbian phone to jump on a train, buy a cinema ticket with a swipe, or even automatically hook up to your car stereo.
We noted last month that Symbian is fast losing mindshare in the mobile world, and with rival Android only getting smarter and smarter, it’s good to see the Symbian Foundation trying to keep up. Now if only it could offer a free satnav app too…
Out TBC | £TBC | Symbian Foundation (Via Nokia Conversations)
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