1 in 6 Mobiles to have NFC by 2014

NFC technology, which allows mobile phones to be used as payment device, hasn’t been widely adopted in the UK, although its use is growing in the Far East.

Nokia ran some trials of the technology in London, where NFC-enabled handsets were used to pay for bus and tub fares instead of an Oyster card, but otherwise the technology has not found a receptive audience.

However a new report from Juniper Research suggests that 1 in 6 mobile subscribers will have NFC Mobile Phones by 2014.

As well as using NFC phones for payments, Juniper Research expects phones to be transformed into retail tools.

This would be enabled by the expected roll-out of POS (Point of Sale) NFC readers at merchant locations.

Other than Nokia, most operators have shown little interest in integrating NFC into their handsets, although there are rumours that it could be appearing in the next iPhone.

Apple patented a “Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader” a couple of years ago and is believed to have been testing an RFID-equipped prototype.