Amazon/Google Ramping Up Interest In NFC

According to the site Near Field Communications World, Google and Amazon.com are both showing some interest in Near Field Communications, or NFC. Google has joined the NFC Forum as a Principal member, which allows them to use their own in-house facilities to conduct NFC Forum certification testing. Amazon, also is showing serious interest in the technology, considering expanding Amazon Payments to include payments via mobile phones. Read more about these developments after the cut.

No word on what Google plans to do with the NFC technology, but being able to test in-house is a big benefit to confidentiality.

Amazon has more concrete objectives. They are "considering the introduction of a service that would let consumers pay for goods in brick-and-mortar stores using their mobile phones, according to two people with knowledge of the project," a Bloomberg report states. Amazon is also looking at creating NFC-based marketing services. Using the service, if you were shopping for clothes and couldn't find what you want in your size, you could tap your phone against the item's NFC tag and locate the item for order on Amazon.

Amazon has an app for the iPhone, called Price Check by Amazon that lets you compare prices by scanning bar codes, snapping pictures or typing the name of the product, but this would be taking things a step further, kind of like "one-tap" orders.

Amazon will decide when and if to unveil the mobile payment service sometime in the next three to five months, according to a unnamed source within the company.

[via Near Field Communications World]