NFC May Soon Interact With Packages and Wireless Chargers

[cdmagurus.com]

The NFC Forum today said it has agreed to work with other industry groups to increase the number of things NFC-equipped smartphones can talk to. Specifically, the NFC Forum has forged alliances with the Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA) and the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). The AIPIA and NFC Forum will together "focus on developing the latest technological innovations in intelligent and active packaging solutions," meaning they'll find ways to add NFC tags to consumer goods packaging. This will, in turn, allow shippers, vendors, and consumers to glean information about products by tapping their smartphones to the box. The WPC is the body behind the Qi wireless power transfer specification. The WPC and the NFC Forum plan to tackle how Qi charging coils and NFC radios can work together on mobile devices. The groups says creating an interoperability standard between NFC and Qi will help create more compact and cost-efficient charging interfaces for mobile devices, solve problems such as the gap between battery capacity and power consumption, and allow Qi-based chargers to offer NFC-stored information and/or services to smartphones. Paula Hunter, executive director of the NFC Forum, called the new partnerships a "significant step forward" for homes and workplaces, as they will help ease consumer pain points when it comes to product packaging and wireless charging.


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