The smartphone ecosystem is prepping for NFC and Android, Google’s smartphone operating system, is a major element in that ecosystem. Android 2.3, codenamed Gingerbread, is due out shortly and it contains an NFC reader application. A similar app accessing the NFC hardware would be a mobile wallet or retailer payment application. In the quote below, pay special attention to the last sentence. It’s going to be up to the manufacture, and its mobile operator customer, to enable access to that hardware feature.
An NFC Reader application lets the user read and interact with near-field communication (NFC) tags. For example, the user can “touch” or “swipe” an NFC tag that might be embedded in a poster, sticker, or advertisement, then act on the data read from the tag. A typical use would be to read a tag at a restaurant, store, or event and then rate or register by jumping to a web site whose URL is included in the tag data. NFC communication relies on wireless technology in the device hardware, so support for the platform’s NFC features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers.
More on Android OS features at: http://d.android.com/sdk/android-2.3-highlights.html
