NFC unlocks opportunities in technology at CES 2018
At CES this year, near field communication (NFC) technology proved itself a dominant technology across a variety of industries. By using a smartphone, NFC can easily be applied to products in the smart home, retail and healthcare areas and beyond.
Truly, NFC technology is becoming a widespread, common (and common sense) technology for consumer and business products. Each of the new products highlighted below and featured at CES can be accessed with a smartphone. To date, there are over 2 billion NFC-enabled devices in the world — almost a quarter of the earth’s population. The future is mobile and NFC is a key enabler for new product development.
The dramatic increase in smartphone usage will only further fuel the innovation and product development using NFC technology. It is exciting to be leading the NFC Forum at this stage of growth and innovation. Here are my four highlights from CES 2018:
L’Oréal’s UV Sense
NFC has officially made its debut in the beauty department. By using L’Oréal’s UV Sense, consumers can learn how much sun they are getting by sticking the My UV Patch onto their thumbnail. My UV Patch, using NFC technology, lets users know when they have had too much sun by tapping their smartphone onto the patch. Once a smartphone communicates with the nail sticker, the L’Oréal UV Sense app can be used to gather information about a person’s skin and how much sun time is too much sun time for that person.
The YesItIs Tag Sensor
This year the YesItIs Tag Sensor brought home one of the 2018 CES Innovation Honoree Awards in the category of smart home. The YesItIs Tag Sensor is a tag that records environmental data, including measuring temperature and humidity levels. The data is accessed by tapping on the tag with your smartphone. From warehouses to construction sites to homes, the YesItIs Tag Sensor keeps track of the surrounding environment with a single tap.
Sony’s Truly Wireless Bluetooth Headphones
Wireless headphones have been done before, but not like Sony’s Truly Wireless Bluetooth Headphones. Featuring the NFC Forum’s N-mark brand prominently on the headphones, they can be paired by tapping a smartphone to the headphones. This is one of the simplest, easiest ways I’ve found to pair two devices. Kudos to Sony!
Selinko’s ‘Product-as-a-Store’ service
Selinko’s newest innovation allows for any object to become a store. Retailers are beginning to avoid the middle man, selling directly to the consumer, and Selinko’s “Product-as-a-Store” service makes this a reality. Tap the object to be purchased with a smartphone to explore the details of a product or make a purchase. Retail is beginning to transform with the use of NFC technology. To learn more about NFC and the consumer’s retail journey, check out the NFC Forum’s next generation retail and brand experience infographic.
This year at CES we saw NFC innovations like never before. NFC technology is being implemented in all different facets of our lives. From home to auto to wearables, NFC technology opens up doors for an almost unlimited array of opportunities. I can’t wait to see what CES has in store for 2019!
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