Sunday, July 1, 2012

NFC Has to Solve Problems People Didn't Know They Had

Mobile payments solves a problem nobody, or few people, really have, one sometimes hears. It might be reasonable, even for its supporters, to argue that adoption will take some time, given the complexity of the required ecosystem.

In fact, the question of "what problem is getting solved?"  has many potential answers. With specific regard to near field communications, one might suggest that it is not yet clear which specific problem NFC "solves."

Many might argue that, in developed regions, the payment process in fact is not "broken," making NFC-based mobile payments less a needed substitute and more a feature or capability that adds value in some other way.

It is possible that the ultimate answer will be that NFC solves a problem people don't know they have, as Apple has created products that people did not "know" they needed.

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