Yes – It Was a Great Summer for NFC

We have seen great traction in the NFC market these past few months. It started late July with NXP announcing approximately 200 NFC design wins and 80 NFC-enabled devices available in the markets. Then there was the Google Wallet update, which opens Wallet use to many more consumers to enjoy the contactless experience. Meanwhile, there are nine Google Wallet certified NFC enabled mobile devices available in the US and consumers worldwide are eagerly waiting for Google Wallet availability in their countries.

Multiple companies, including Samsung, Sony, LG, Huawei, ZTE, HP, Toshiba and Asus, announced their new line-up of NFC-enabled devices based on Android OS as well as on Windows Phone 8. The conversation at this year’s IFA show in Berlin, one of the world’s largest trade shows for consumer electronics, was dominated by NFC, as NFC enabled devices were seen everywhere. NXP didn’t exhibit at IFA, but our presence was felt everywhere, providing the technology for all those devices.

For example, Sony showed a full suite of NFC-enabled products, taking it far beyond mobile phones. Sony announced six different products, including two new flagship smart phones, two Vaio PCs, a premium headset and portable speakers so that Sony users can easily share content between their devices via NFC. And yes, all of those Sony devices are NFC-enabled with NXP. Another example is Asus introducing two tablets with NFC functionality.

Directly after IFA Microsoft announced the presence of NFC in its Windows Phone 8 smartphone operating system. The Samsung ATIV S, Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 include NFC and support for Windows Phone 8 apps. The Vimeo app for Windows Phone 8 will allow users to share videos, while YouSendIt provides the ability to share files using NFC. Also, Motorola introduced their first NFC phones with five models expected this year and they too selected NXP’s secure NFC technology. And HTC just announced its Windows Phone 8 based smartphone with NFC, the HTC 8X.

Nine of the top 10 smartphone manufacturers support NFC, and eight of them are working with NXP. With the recent success of the Galaxy SIII (20m units shipped in 100 days) and the launch of Windows Phone 8 phones by Nokia, HTC and Samsung the majority of new smart phones will support NFC.

With such a great summer for NFC, what can we expect for the remainder of the year? The NFC market continues to evolve rapidly. Just last week we shipped our 100^th million PN544 NFC controller. NFC is coming to many new tablets, laptops, speakers and headsets enabling secure payments, mobile ticketing, NFC tag use cases or the pairing of applications across multiple form-factors. All those devices and applications are creating the experiences end consumers are looking for. We are looking forward to seeing all these new NFC devices in retail stores soon, and later this year, to reading the NFC analyst reports for 2012.