Sony and Philips Electronics are to jointly develop a new
short-range radio-frequency communication technology.
The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology will use a 13.56 MHz
radio frequency band for wireless transfer of data between
electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, PCs and game
consoles across a distance of up to 20cm.
A data transfer speed of up to 212Kbps means that NFC is compatible
with Sony's Felica and Philips' Mifare contactless integrated
circuit smart card technologies.
The Mifare system is used by Visa International Service Association
for its credit card and transit card systems worldwide. Sony's
Felica is used for transit card systems in China, Singapore and
Japan. Sony also provides an electronic money system using Felica
in Japan.
Sony and Philips hope NFC-compliant devices incorporating smart-key
and smart card reader functions will be used for services such as
payment, ticketing and accessing online entertainment game content.
For example, when a user wants to purchase a concert ticket or
music content using an NFC-compliant mobile phone, payment can be
made by holding a smart money card near the phone.
"The NFC technology can replace infrared network technology or USB
cables," Sony spokesman Naoki Fujita said. Sony and Philips hope to
commercialise the technology by the beginning of 2004 and plan to
invite other companies to develop NFC-compliant products, he said.