Near field communications (NFC) technology in mobile phones is set to enter a four-year boom period, according to research from iSuppli.
The research firm says support for the technology, from mobile companies including Nokia and Google, will foster a period of explosive growth and worldwide shipments of handsets with built-in NFC will rise to 220.1 million units by 2014, up four-fold from 52.6 million this year.
NFCs are expected to fuel a growth in technologies such as contactless payments and potentially smart transport ticketing and iSuppli predicts that by 2014 some 13% of all mobile phones shipped will integrate NFC, up from only 4.1% this year.
“Imagine paying your bus fare, buying a plane ticket or making an ATM/credit card purchase simply by holding your phone near a wireless terminal,” said Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for communications and consumer electronics with iSuppli.
“This is the mobile payment revolution on the verge of being unleashed by NFC technology. With NFC technology expected to be integrated into Nokia’s [mobile] phones and Google’s Android operating system, the first shots of this revolution will be fired next year.”
Nokia has said it will support NFC in all new smart phone models introduced next year, while Google has announced support for NFC in Android 2.3, which the company showed off on its Nexus S handset earlier this month.
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