Earlier this month, I sat down with Geoff from the Near Field Communications (NFC) Product Management Team at RIM to get his take on a top NFC myth we often see from our Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog readers. (FYI – the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900/9930 smartphones and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350/9360/9370 smartphones have NFC built-in NFC.)

Editor’s Note: About a year ago, we sat down with Geoff for the first time to get his perspective on where RIM is going in the NFC space. If you haven’t had a chance to watch Geoff’s video interview, check it out here: How to use Near Field Communication (NFC) for Business.

Debunking The Top NFC Myth: NFC is not just about mobile payments!

Popular perception seems to be that NFC is just a way to make mobile payments. Although RIM has been a key mobile payment advocate – including becoming among the first smartphones to be certified by MasterCard® and Visa® for NFC-based payments and working with EnStream in Canada – this capability was merely a stepping stone to a BlackBerry presence in the NFC space. Mobile payment capability is just one part of NFC technology’s true potential.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

If you look back a few years, it is impressive to see the ways in which wireless technology has changed the way we live. One example of this is the emerging NFC technologies that are being built in to a range of BlackBerry® smartphones, and even the new 4G LTE™ BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. NFC essentially allows devices to connect by waving or tapping them together. This is useful for exchanging small amounts of data like weblinks or contact information, and it is increasingly being used for mobile payments, where you can tap your device (which can be connected to your financial accounts) and conveniently pay for purchases. The future is now.

Since I’m no expert when it comes to NFC, I caught up with Geoff MacGillivray to get the scoop.

IBB BLOG: Could you tell us what NFC technology is for those who have never heard of it?

NFC is a very new technology for the mass market. It has been around for quite some time, and people have probably already seen examples of NFC or have used NFC technology even without realizing it. The acronym itself, NFC, stands for Near Field Communication. Essentially, it’s a short-range wireless technology that is largely associated with a ‘tap’ — a tap on a reader or another device to initiate a transaction.

Now, if you’re a member of a corporation and you have an ID pass or card that gives you access to the premises, it could be using NFC technology. If you tap the card to the reader, that’s an NFC exchange. Likewise, when you tap your credit card on a certain point of sale reader, your financial transaction is executed using NFC.

IBB BLOG: With today’s fast-paced lifestyle, what key uses of NFC do you think will help us the most?

I think the modes of NFC and the ways it can be used are so widely varied, and that’s where I see value for end consumers. It’s not just about payment, although that’s certainly one aspect of it.

Physical access is another aspect. It doesn’t just play into enterprise; it can also extend to other areas like getting access to buildings of any sort. Modern hotels rooms, for example – you won’t just get a magnetic key card for access, you’ll sometimes get a card with NFC technology that you can tap to be let in.

Transit is another use case – GO trains in Toronto use NFC with the Presto system, the London transport system uses NFC with the Oyster card, and a lot of transit authorities use it around the world because it just fits so nicely.

IBB BLOG: Is there a creative or interesting use of NFC that people may not know about?

We were just talking about what we call ‘card emulation use cases’ which are replacing the physical card in terms of NFC transactions.v

There’s also an equivalent form of NFC that fits within the QR code space. You often see a QR code on a poster, but it’s actually very easy to put an NFC chip on it instead. The benefit there is that you can simply ‘tap’ the poster to read a web link, phone number or other info instead of fumbling to focus your device on the QR code to read it.

Many of us already know about device exchanges that involve tapping devices together to share a picture or web link, et cetera. That can actually extend to accessory pairing as well. We’ve all gone to the trouble of trying to pair Bluetooth® accessories – wouldn’t it be nice just to ‘tap’ on accessories and you are Bluetooth-paired?

It’s these kinds of examples spanning a person’s daily life that will make NFC truly valuable. You don’t have to focus on a QR code – you just have to tap. You don’t have to pull out your wallet to pay – you just tap. So it’s all those little things that I think add up to the overall NFC experience.

IBB BLOG: With NFC, we’ve talked about the ability to exchange photos, documents and more. And in the near future, we’ll be able to make secure financial transactions. How secure are these transfers?

Another great question. People get a little worried when you talk about issuing credentials to a phone, but I’d like to point out that your phone is actually a more secure environment than your credit card. And the reason I say that is because there are remote management options as well as password lock and other features that are available.

When you have your credentials on your credit card and your credit card is stolen, they have your information if they know your PIN. If that info is now on your phone and stored in the same secure chip location where it’s stored on the card, you now have the ability to lock your phone. So if someone steals your phone they can’t get the card information without first unlocking the device. Plus, some devices also have remote wipe or management capabilities available.

The security of the device can now be factored into protecting your payment credentials or any other credentials that are stored there.

IBB BLOG: In your life, how do you feel NFC technology is most helpful, or engaging?

To me, the idea of getting rid of all cards is really appealing. Not just payment cards, but all the rewards cards and others too. Now if I can get down to a couple of cards in my wallet – at least in the short term – that would make me so much happier. In the long term, that could mean getting rid of your house keys and your car keys. All you would need is your phone. People could rid themselves of carrying wallets; they would just take their phone, because everyone takes their phone with them.

And the other thing about security is that I may not notice immediately if I lose my access card or even if I lose my wallet, but people are on their mobile devices so often that they’ll know if they’re missing them probably sooner than any other passes.

IBB BLOG: How large is an NFC chip?

An NFC chip is in the order of 1 millimeter or 2 millimeters square. What actually takes up space on the NFC tag is the antenna, but it’s still very flat. NFC stickers are paper-thin. There’s a magazine that recently ran an ad using NFC, so it can be imprinted in media.

There’s also a company investigating the ability to use technology to actually print an NFC tag. And if that happens, the cost will come down and the amount of functions you can explore will increase.

IBB BLOG: Over the next few years, what new capabilities do you think NFC technology will have? How do you think it will impact the smartphone industry as a whole?

I think we’re seeing a lot of publicity around the introduction of NFC technology in mobile phones now. And more and more companies and manufacturers are getting onboard with NFC. We have to bear in mind that this is a new technology and will be adopted over the next several years. The vision of having NFC as a part of your daily life is one that we should subscribe to. It’s going to take a little while to get there, but we’re pretty excited about how things are moving.

There you have it — NFC technology explained. Now that we’ve shed a little light on this new standard, let us know if you have any other questions, and be sure to check out Luke’s blog post on how NFC can be used in everyday life.

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

This week at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, we’re excited about the new OS update for BlackBerry® smartphones. A few of the fantastic features include mobile Wi-Fi® hotspot, BlackBerry® Tag, FM Radio, contextual deals via BlackBerry® Travel™ and BlackBerry® Maps, voice navigation in BlackBerry Traffic, and Wi-Fi calling. This update truly shifts the BlackBerry smartphone experience to the next level, and combined with the upcoming BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, you’ll have a fantastic combination of communication, business, and lifestyle tools.

With access to some of the people at Research In Motion® (RIM®) who work behind the scenes to develop and craft BlackBerry® products and software, we thought we would take the opportunity to provide an insider perspective on this OS update as well as the philosophy behind the BlackBerry smartphone platform. I managed to grab Annu Dawar, Senior Product Manager for BlackBerry® 7, here at CES to give us the full scoop. Check out the video above!

• Wi-Fi hotspot
• BlackBerry Tag
• FM Radio
• Contextual deals via BlackBerry Travel and BlackBerry Maps
• Voice navigation in BlackBerry Traffic
• Wi-Fi calling

Pick the feature from above that you’re most looking forward to, and tell us in the comments how it will impact the day-to-day use of your BlackBerry smartphone!

[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

In the summer of 2011 we launched the BlackBerry® 7 lineup of smartphones along with our first NFC-capable devices: the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900/9930 smartphones, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350/9360/9370 smartphones, and the BlackBerry® Bold 9790 smartphone. The initial NFC functionality enabled the technology within the BlackBerry® OS to support Smart Tag reading and writing, along with API’s available for BlackBerry developers so that they could start building some compelling experiences with this exciting technology. For the end-user, on the other hand, the promise of the technology is just getting started.

What is BlackBerry Tag?

BlackBerry® Tag is a new way to share content with others, allowing you to use NFC technology to pass information with a simple tap between any two NFC-enabled BlackBerry® smartphones.

What can be shared through BlackBerry Tag?

Here are some examples of what you’ll be able to share with a single tap:

• Invite your friend to BBM™ (BBM 6.1, which is now available on BlackBerry® App World™)
• Share contact information
• Share content from the media applications
• Share voice notes
• Share documents from within Documents To Go®
• Share a URL from the browser
• Create Bluetooth® pairing with ease
• Transfer files

An Example

Picture this: you’re reviewing photos from a weekend with friends on your BlackBerry smartphone, when your friend sees a great shot that they love. By simply opening the picture on your phone and tapping your friend’s device, you can easily share the photo. No complex menus, no extended period of time holding the phones together, and no hassle. Want to share multiple photos with a single tap? No problem! The transfer continues even after the phones are pulled apart after tapping, via a secure Bluetooth connection.

Okay, so how does it work?

The “magic” of BlackBerry Tag is that it’s using NFC to very quickly (and silently) setup a temporary secure Bluetooth connection between the two phones. In case you didn’t know, NFC is a wireless technology that allows for very low-rate data transmissions at a 4 cm range. It fills a very specific niche, but when coupled with a longer range and higher bandwidth protocol like Bluetooth, it becomes an extremely robust technology that lets you connect devices wirelessly for a brief period of time. BlackBerry Tag doesn’t go out to the cloud or use any data over a mobile network.

Is it Secure?

Staying true to our long history of upholding security standards, we made sure that the system is protected from end-to-end. Plus there is a certain level of inherent security with NFC that I’d call security-by-proximity (i.e. you have to physically be close to the person you want to share content with) – but we went even further.

• By default, confirmation prompts appear when you attempt to send or receive using BlackBerry Tag. If you prefer, you can easily disable prompts within the preferences.
• Tapping to share is disabled when screens are off, preventing unwanted tagging from pockets or lost/stolen devices.
• AES-256 encryption is utilized over Bluetooth to make the sharing of data secure.

In BlackBerry 7.1, not only do some core applications support BlackBerry Tag, we will also offer additional API’s that will provide developers with the functionality to create highly interactive applications, allowing you to establish peer-to-peer connections between devices. Through the use of standard protocols, developers will have the ability to create a physical, interactive experience, allowing users to transfer files, or share in-app information with a simple tap. Developers can utilize BlackBerry Tag to transfer data through NFC or to handover the connection to Bluetooth to transfer larger amounts of data over a further distance.

Hopefully you are getting as excited as I am about BlackBerry Tag and the limitless experiences it can enable on BlackBerry smartphones!

What will you be sharing most often with BlackBerry Tag? Share in the comments!

The BlackBerry 7.1 OS update will begin rolling out from carriers around the world beginning today and over the coming weeks, and offers some great new features that we wanted to highlight here:

• Mobile Hotspot: Turn your BlackBerry 7.1 OS device into a Wi-Fi® router anywhere, anytime! The new OS seamlessly provides Internet access for up to five Wi-Fi devices, including laptops and tablets.
• Universal Search: For this new release, we wanted to focus on the intelligence of our system and our apps – in other words, we wanted to create an intuitive experience that does the thinking for you. For example, Universal Search now has a new auto-suggest feature that that intelligently filters Bing® search results to offer you a variety of relevant Web sites based on your search terms.
• BlackBerry® Tag: Share contacts, media and files, and even invite friends to BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM) through a simple touch. BlackBerry Tag unlocks near field communication (NFC) capabilities for everyday use and makes sharing a lot faster and much more personal.
• Wi-Fi® Calling (where available): With BlackBerry 7.1 OS, you’ll be able to make Wi-Fi calls using your carrier’s Wi-Fi calling service (aka UMA-lite or GAN-lite). Wi-Fi calling allows you to save your talk time minutes and make phone calls over any Wi-Fi network. Not all carriers offer such a service so check with your carrier for availability.
• FM Radio: The BlackBerry 7.1 OS update will let BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 and 9380 smartphone customers enjoy FM radio. The Curve models include a built-in FM radio so you can tune in to local FM radio stations. Simply plug in your headset to boost the reception (it acts as the antenna). Plus, no data usage or data plan required!
• BlackBerry® Maps:

When you launch the new BlackBerry Maps you’ll be able to discover special offers, coupons and discounts from nearby vendors – and, of course, you can act instantly by calling about the deal, finding the best route to get there, or grabbing the coupon code.

But that’s not all the surprises we have in store for you today – along with the new OS update, we’ve also released updates to a number of other popular BlackBerry smartphone apps! We’re continuously taking steps to enhance your social experiences on your BlackBerry smartphone. We are making the apps you know and love even more intelligent and intuitive with upgrades to help you manage your daily tasks or plan for your next big adventure.

Here’s what we’ve got for you:

BBM is now 6.1

It’s the BBM you know and love, taking your social experience to a whole new level. Now with BlackBerry Tag integration, you can invite a friend to BBM by simply tapping your NFC enabled BlackBerry smartphones against each other. Also, by popular request from our BBM community, we’ve added more ways to personalize your messages and your profile. BBM 6.1 is now out of beta, so check out our BBM 6.1 blog post for an in-depth look at the newest features.

BlackBerry Travel

Are you a frequent flier or avid traveler? The updated BlackBerry Travel app virtually plans your trips for you, from airport pick up and drop off to accommodations and scheduling. You’ll be able to find deals on hotel and car rental options, or arrange for limo service to and from an airport. Plus, you can rest easy knowing that the BlackBerry Travel app will quickly notify you if your flight is delayed or cancelled, and that it can help you find a new flight right away. No matter where you do your booking, the automatic trip scanning feature can pull your trip details into the app, so you don’t have to. See all your travel updates in one place as they happen, and don’t worry about double and triple checking your itinerary; if you’ve missed anything, BlackBerry Travel will let you know!

BlackBerry Traffic

Getting where you want to just got easier with the new update of BlackBerry Traffic. The updated app now provides you with turn-by-turn voice guidance so figuring out how to get there is easy and hands free. BlackBerry Traffic provides you with your route and your estimated time of arrival (ETA) based on current traffic conditions – right on your BlackBerry smartphone.

So as you can see, we’ve got a whole bundle of goodies ready for #TeamBlackBerry to enjoy. We’re confident that this collection of intelligent apps will help you connect with your fellow BlackBerry smartphone users, because life is better when it’s shared in real time.

For more information and to download the new versions of BBM, BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Travel visit BlackBerry App World and don’t forget to leave us a comment and let us know what you think about BlackBerry 7.1 OS and the new app updates!

For those of you attending this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) come visit the BlackBerry booth (South Hall 3 Booth # 30326) to see these new updates and more firsthand!