Wi-Fi enabled key-fob brings NFC to your phone

MWC 2011: Unless you've got the Nexus S already

Wi-Fi enabled key-fob brings NFC to your phone

14 February 2011 14:50 GMT / By Paul Lamkin

You may have seen NFC popping up on the spec sheet of many of the most recent mobile phone launches, but if your handset of choice isn't packing Near Field Communication, don't worry, because there's a key-fob on show at MWC that'll add it to any Wi-Fi compatible phone.

Being demoed by Morpho (Safran Group) and Simlink AS (a Telenor and SINTEF spin-off), the fob has a NFC-enabled SIM card with a secure application inside, and uses the Wi-Fi airwaves to connect to your phone.

So, instead of flashing your phone to make instant payments, or gain access, you flash the fob instead, but can still access the transaction details on your phone's display.

“Equipped in this way, the key fob can help to deploy any kind of Near Field Communication service - such as mobile payment, mobile ticketing or loyalty services - enabled by an NFC SIM-card, with any kind of Wi-Fi enabled mobile phone right now,” said Paul Naldrett, SVP for telecoms at Morpho.

There's no release details as of yet, but we expect that we'll see more and more pocket friendly devices tapping into the NFC market in the next few months.

NFC is the future, cash is useless now. In fact, we've thrown all of ours away and if you want to do so too then send it to Pocket-lint and we'll get rid of it in a responsible way.

Full tags

NFC, Morpho, Simlink, MWC2011, Phones, Mobile phones