Near Field Communication (NFC)

A new technology has joined already established device-to-device wireless communication technologies Bluetooth, RFID and ZigBee and it is called Near Field Communication or NFC for short. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a wireless connectivity technology that enables convenient short-range communication between electronic devices.
NFC is an open platform technology standardized in ECMA-340 and ISO/IEC 18092. These standards specify the modulation schemes; coding, transfer speeds and frame format of the RF interface of NFC devices.It will operate within the globally available and unlicensed ISM RF band of 13.56 MHz with a range of 0-20 centimeters and data rates of 106 Kbit/s, 212 Kbit/s or 424 Kbit/s.
When r NFC-enabled devices are close together, they automatically initiate network communications without requiring the user to configure the setup. NFC-enhanced consumer devices can easily exchange and store your personal data - messages, pictures, MP3 files, etc.
The new AT&T mobility has teamed up with cell phone maker Nokia and financial institutions Citigroup and MasterCard Worldwide to trial new phones that have MasterCard PayPass contactless payment capability to test this technology. The participants in the trial will receive a Nokia handset with "near-field communication" (NFC) technology and the MasterCard PayPass payment function built in.
Some of you will be wondering that Bluetooth is already doing all this, why have NFC? Because there is no setting and setup involved in NFC is relatively easy to use and also NFC may be part of standard chipset in many devices.