A new smartphone offering from one of the world's largest tech companies may help to speed up the process of getting consumers to adopt mobile credit card use.
The new smartphone from Sony known as the "Xperia sola" could help to push more consumers toward adopting digital wallet purchases because of the near-field communications technology that comes embedded in the device, according to a report from TG Daily. The reason some think this phone is different from the handful of other NFC-enabled smartphones currently on the market in the U.S. is that it allows for uses beyond digital wallet platforms.
It makes use of what Sony calls SmartTags, which are customizable NFC stickers that, when the device is waved over them, change the settings of the handset to be more convenient, the report said. For example, users could set one of their SmartTags to make the phone go silent when waved over it, then affix it to their desk at work to make sure the ringer doesn't go off in the middle of a busy office.
This may be beneficial because experts believe that consumers will be wary of NFC technology and the security of their data when using it, but if it can be shown to have a practical application in everyday life, that might help to ease consumers into regular use of these systems and engender a greater trust in them.
Currently, though, there are a relatively small number of mobile devices that actually come with NFC technology embedded in them, though experts say that will change within the next generation or two of smartphones and tablet handsets, as companies continue their push into digital wallet development.
