Rumours surrounding the Apple iPad 3 are rife at the moment with details on specifications, release dates, components and prices all being widely discussed across the blogosphere. One of the hotly tipped additions is near field communication, known by the acronym NFC. NFC is already being used by other smartphone manufacturers including Samsung who use it in their Nexus S handset, no manufacturer has placed it into a tablet yet though and Apple is tipped to be one of the first to utilise the technology. But what does it do?
Basically NFC can transfer data and information without wires, one of the most common uses is a wireless payment solution. If a device has NFC it can be used to pay for items of low values, in the UK this is usually below 15.
At this stage the technology is in it’s infancy and even Apple has admitted the technology is fragmented. They are rumoured to be designing and perfecting their own NFC alternative that can work with existing and new contact-less payment solutions. This technology will probably be used in the iPhone 5 and a recent report suggests in the iPad 3 too.