Key Points
- NFC Forum introduces multi-purpose tap for payments and more.
- Technology to bundle age verification, receipts, and rewards.
- Potential use for public transit e-tickets and accurate fare charges.
- Early stages with privacy concerns and need for market testing.
Tech giants including Apple, Google, and Huawei are backing the NFC Forum as it works to revolutionize tap-to-pay.
The goal is simple: one tap should be able to do many things at once. Picture paying for your groceries while getting your loyalty points and a digital receipt all in one fell swoop.
NFC Forum wants to bundle age verification and payment receipts in tap-to-pay https://t.co/aZY6tCe2tT
— Engadget (@engadget) July 2, 2024
The breakthrough makes use of near-field communication devices’ ability to read and write data across connections – combining actions that would normally take multiple steps into a single process.
To take an example from retail outlets, a single tap could pay for alcohol while verifying the purchaser’s age as well as their identity.
But the technology also offers benefits beyond shops. It could help streamline public transport systems by ensuring that passengers are automatically charged the correct fare (including taxes or any applicable concessions).
If a ride requires a ticket then an e-ticket could be issued upon payment through the system — making boarding simpler.
Addressing Privacy Concerns and Market Testing
There is however some worry about what this means regarding privacy; on one hand, automating identity verification may seem intrusive but being able to market directly at people’s smartphones,
Who have just proved they are old enough might be seen as helpful too much so by others than those doing so themselves! This issue is recognized though not entirely solved yet according to an official statement put out from the NFC Forum earlier today.
The technology is still new so it needs to be tested extensively before being used widely, said the groups involved in developing this tech which will make everyday transactions quicker and even more efficient besides providing insights such as detailed purchase history while ensuring privacy is protected as well with age verification being one of its key components.
