2011 was supposed to be the year of NFC. Many thought so based on multiple chip provider forecasts that, throughout the year, have steadily dropped. Now, we have some real numbers about deliveries of NFC chipsets as opposed to orders. Orders are just paper. Deliveries mean silicon is in a manufacturer’s hands and they don’t want to hold onto it long.
INSIDE Secure announced today it has shipped 10 million NFC chipsets to manufacturers including RIM in support of its top Blackberry models and other manufacturers to be named later. INSIDE reports it expects demand to continue to ramp up.
Getting NFC into the hands of consumers has to happen and this indicates, as an initial tranche, that the handset manufacturer end of the supply chain is finally ready to start shipping NFC devices.
Several leading handset makers have introduced smartphones integrating NFC capabilities already this year, and the number of NFC phones introduced is expected to accelerate in 2012. At the same time, mobile operators, banks and other service providers in the U.S. and Europe have started forming associations or more formal joint ventures to prepare for NFC rollouts next year, and are building interoperable platforms for mobile wallets and over-the-air provisioning and management of applications.
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