Last month, we conducted a survey regarding the status of Near Field Communications. One of the focus areas centred on mass adoption of NFC: what are the key reasons why the technology has not fully taken-off yet, despite years of promises and investments? Over 100 respondents, from MNO’s, Banks and Retailers to TSM’s, Handset & RFID manufacturers took part and gave their feedback, creating an interesting overview of the ecosystem.
Here is what you can learn:
- 65% agreed that in order to get a true mass adoption, NFC should focus on educating the masses about non-payment opportunities, and that once this is accomplished, payment will naturally follow.
- NFC as a technology is right now most interesting for Transport & Ticketing (39.8%), followed by Retail (25%), Payments & Wallets (19.3%), and then Access Control & Authentication (15.9%).
- The lack of support from Apple means a large portion of smartphone market-share is not NFC-enabled.
- Complicated business model: A large ecosystem with so many players involved hinders the development and implementation of the technology
- Cost of the technology: there is still uncertainty about who will gain what, and who will own the costs.
- There is a lack of public education/awareness campaigns into NFC leading to public concerns about security and ease of use.
The overall feedback was a clear indication that NFC is in need of a new approach. While the payment aspect will clearly be the profit generator down the line, the ecosystem now needs to unite together in order to raise public awareness about the technology and show that it is not just another mobile payment solution. It is critical to expose innovative user cases of NFC from beyond payment, within Transport & Ticketing, Retail, and Access Control & Authentication.
