Despite the fact that NFC is still a growing technology, there has been quick adoption of it in various parts of the world and one company that has proven they'll be making use of it whenever and wherever possible is RIM. A new venture between Research In Motion, Orange and SITA in cooperation with the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France will take 50 frequent flyers and have them partake in NFC trial testing throughout the airport. As noted in the press release:

"With NFC technology, the mobile phone simplifies the passenger’s journey through the airport, says Jean-Michel Vernhes, CEO of Toulouse-Blagnac airport. It now becomes a personalized tool displaying the right information at the right time. It also enables passengers to better manage their journey, so they can choose how they spend their time at the airport. For T-B airport, the approach is to give to flyers access to leading-edge technologies that enhance and facilitate their experience at the airport in providing new Premium services."

The trial testing of NFC in the Toulouse-Blagnac airport is just a starting point for further NFC usage within airports as a whole. The trial testing information will ultimately be put to use in an upcoming smartphone application planned for 2013-2014.

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Here in the UK we saw RIM kick off their new marketing campaign just two weeks ago with a TV advert suggesting that "There are people who don't, and people who do" -- and that same concept is staying in place with two new, shorter commercials that have cropped up on BlackBerry UK's YouTube channel.

This time the adverts are targeting specific features and devices.

The first is promoting BBM Music on the BlackBerry Curve 9320, which is perfect timing as the device is now available on all UK networks. The second commercial features the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and its NFC payment capabilities. The last video focuses on the BlackBerry 7 web browser and the Bold 9900.

Although NFC has been around for a while now on BlackBerry Samrtphones it is one of those features that we don't really see in everyday use. Does this new advert mean NFC payments are going to be more readily available soon? Let's hope so as although the public may well need educating on the technology I strongly believe it is something we will see a lot more of in the near future.

It is also great that RIM are not sitting back, happy with their one TV commercial and are targeting the consumer from various angles.

Do you think they are on the right path? See the other videos below and then sound off in the comments!

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Today Iris ID Systems announced that they are making the IrisAccess Platform interoperable with select NFC enabled BlackBerry devices that are equipped with HID Global's iClass Digital Keys. This compatability will allow for individuals to use their BlackBerry to gain physical access to buildings, track time and attendance and other physical identity applications. 

“This is an important milestone in the deployment of mobile access and identity solutions using NFC technology on smartphones,” said Dr. Tam Hulusi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Innovation with HID Global. “NFC-enabled smartphones represent a complementary new platform that we believe will expand the access control market and our card services business while improving user security and convenience.”

Additional uses for NFC on the BlackBerry devices is definitely something that many of us will enjoy, and we can hope to continue to see more of it. Keep reading for the full press release.

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ShortcutMe is a great little app that can really improve how you get things done on your BlackBerry. It allows you to create your own custom shortcuts and macros so you can speed up common tasks and increase your productivity. Create shortcuts for apps, macros to compose email or sms messages, toggle settings and much more. Features include:

• 150 fully customizable shortcuts for major BlackBerry® applications and tasks.
• Assign 3 applications to each convenience key.
• Assign 3 applications to Space key (Only for devices with full QWERTY keypads).
• Create your own shortcuts to do various tasks i.e. toggle Bluetooth or launch apps
• Use Direct Launch feature to launch apps without even creating a shortcut for it.
• Cascade your shortcuts so that they run one after the other (Leaving Home shortcut, where ShortcutMe turns off WiFi, Turns on Bluetooth, Turns on cellular radio and launches your favorite music so that you can hear it in the car stereo system. All of that by for example just double clicking the Space or side key.

ShortcutMe also fully integrates with NFCShortcuts - so if you use NFC on your BlackBerry 7 device, you'll want to have this app so you can go NFC wild! You can grab ShortcutMe for just $2.99 today only in BlackBerry App World.

More information/Download ShortcutMe

Have you made use of the NFC feature on your BlackBerry smartphone yet? I haven't yet but Adam certainly has  -- and very soon I'll probably get around to trying it out with NFC tags as well. I've seen some stores in the UK equipped with payment points that are NFC ready and would like to see these enable soon.

Recently, we saw Orange UK and EAT, the restaurant chain bring NFC features to the store giving you daily treats. Back in November 2011, it was announced that RIM and partner Telefonica Digital would bring NFC payments to BlackBerry smartphones. The solution is brought about by Telefonica's BlackBerry Wallet, where you keep all your virtual credit cards and make payments using an NFC-enabled BlackBerry device.

It certainly is a great start to making use of NFC-enabled devices and hopefully we will see more and more businesses adopt the technology to allow us to make payments faster. Check out the video above to see the Telefonica Digital Wallet in action.

Would you use the NFC feature of you BlackBerry smartphone if more stores activate NFC payments? Sound off in the comments!

If you're looking to get into NFC on your BlackBerry smartphone, there is no better place to start than with NFCShortcuts. This simple app gives you the ability to program NFC tags to do thy bidding, quickly and easily. You can find inexpensive tags online at various outlets (like these I picked up on Amazon) and are only limited by your imagination. Team up NFCShortcuts with ShortcutMe and you can program the tags to do anything from turning on your alarm at night to enabling wifi when you're at home to texting your spouse when you're in the car. Check out all the fun stuff I did with mine.

NFCShortcuts sells for $2.99 in BlackBerry App World, but today you can grab it on sale for just $0.99 - that's over 60% off! Head to the link below for more.

More information/Download NFCShortcuts

If you do so happen to be at Mobile World Congress and stop by the BlackBerry booth, you'll notice there is plenty of NFC powered like stations around. All together, there is five stations set up where folks can check in using NFC and share content directly from their BlackBerry Smartphones using Twitter, Facebook and if you don't have a NFC powered device, you can use an RFID tag instead.

RIM today announced that they're making use of that MasterCard PayPass certification for a near-field communications-enabled mobile wallet in Turkey. The Turkcell BlackBerry Bold 9900 will be spearheading the new contactless payment scheme, though it's easy to imagine the wealth of other NFC BlackBerry devices getting in on the service too - especially the BlackBerry Curve 9360, since it's already certified. Transactions under a certain amount won't need a PIN to be entered, ensuring you can tap and go with ease, but for anything over 35 Turkish Lira (or roughly $20), you'll need to authenticate. 

Before getting too cynical about RIM paying attention to everywhere but North America, it's worth noting that Turkey is huge. There are 72 million people there, with 66 million cell phones in use as of 2009. Just to put that in perspective, here in Canada we've got about 24 million mobiles running among 34 million people. 

Regardless, it'll be great when PayPass with mobile NFC lands here at home, and BlackBerry can start giving Google Wallet a bit of honest competition.  Keep reading for the full press release.

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A few days before CES I was browsing Amazon for my last minute travel items and randomly decided to pick up some NFC tags to use with my BlackBerry Bold 9900. What I was going to use them for exactly I wasn't quite sure, but I knew a bit about the NFCShortcuts (formerly NFCLauncher) app and figured if nothing else I could play around a bit. I picked up some Mifare Ultralight NFC Tags (pack of 10 tags for $15) and was on my way to NFC goodness. Unfortunately the tags didn't arrive before I left for my CES journey, but I did have plenty of time to play around over the weekend after I got back. Keep reading and we'll take a look at how these NFC tags work and just what you can use them for on your BlackBerry Smartphone.

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Yale Locks and Hardware was on hand at CES to talk about their new series of Real Living Locks. They are available as deadbolts or lever locks, and use Z-Wave or ZigBee technology. Now this is nothing new to me, as I have been using a Schlage LiNK system for several years now. What did impress me quite a bit is that these locks are available with a standard keypad, or a new sleek capacitive touchscreen. They also incorporate a motorized deadbolt, so you can remotely lock or unlock you door. Now just the touchscreen and the motorized deadbolt were impressing me, but what really peaked my interested was how Yale has built in NFC technology into each lock.

What does this mean for BlackBerry users? It means that soon you will be able to take advantage of your NFC capable BlackBerry device and be able to use it to unlock your front door just by holding it near the lock. Now that is cool! Yale is still working on a few details before releasing the NFC capable lock, but we should be seeing it this year.

BlackBerry Tag was announced back in October but we haven't really seen much of it in action since. However with the rollout of BlackBerry OS 7.1 to carriers, more users will be able to take advantage of this cool NFC feature on their devices. BlackBerry Messenger 6.1 includes the ability to add contacts via BlackBerry Tag, and you'll be able to do things like send photos, videos, contacts, browser URLs and more via other BlackBerry Tag enabled apps. Check out the video above for a quick walkthrough and to see BlackBerry Tag in action.

Not long ago, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Curve 9360 were approved by MasterCard as the world's first SIM-based smartphones to be PayPass Certified. Today, Visa has joined in and approved not only the Bold 9900 and Curve 9360, but the Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 for use as Visa Mobile Payment devices. This is a great example of how NFC can be put to use in a way that will make life easier and more efficient.

Press Release

Visa Certifies Smartphones for Use as Visa Mobile Payment Devices

NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion approved for use with Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale

SAN FRANCISCO - Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Visa Europe today announced that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Research In Motion (RIM) have been certified for use with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale, Visa payWave. The Samsung Galaxy SII, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 have been added to the list of Visa compliant payment products available for commercial deployment by financial institutions.

All the new devices certified by Visa host the Visa payWave application on a secure SIM card and feature NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, the short range communications standard that enables mobile phones to securely transmit payment information to a contactless payment terminal.

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RIM has partnered with NFC marketing company Tapit in Australia to promote the NFC capabilities of the new BlackBerry 7 devices. The Sydney based Tapit is known for delivering content via NFC tags, be it movie trailers, tickets, coupons or other deliverable content. During the campaign, users will be able to tap tags on NFC-enabled posters as well as tokens that will be given out by BlackBerry street team members.

"We believe NFC will be increasingly used in Australia in a variety of ways including making mobile payments with your smart phone, transferring information or even using your smart phone as a digital key," said Adele Beachley, managing director for RIM Australia. "Partnering with Tapit will allow us to showcase the power of NFC in marketing." 

NFC is a pretty big selling point on BlackBerry smartphones, so it's good to see RIM being proactive and making use of the technoiogy. Hopefully the NFC buzz will spread and we'll see much more from RIM and other ways we can use NFC down the road.

Source: NFCNews

Last month, Adam introduced us to NFCLauncher; the first BlackBerry application to tap (pardon the pun) into the power of NFC. As he mentioned, the application allows you to launch applications, ShortcutMe macros, media; just about anything that your BlackBerry smartphone can do – all with a tap against NFC tags. Fonware, the developer behind NFCLauncher, now known as NFCShortcuts has an impressive history of creating new ways to automate your most common command on your BlackBerry using the popular ShortcutMe. They take it even further with NFCShortcuts, but it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with it. Now while we’ve heard of the NFC capabilities being tested here and there, this is an amazing way to see it for yourselves, and benefit from it too!

Since we last took a look at NFCShortcuts, it’s received some significant updates to it. For starters, NFC tags can now be reprogrammed so you can change them as your needs change. You can also program your tag so that they do not cause the Smart Tags applications to run, only NFCShortcuts.

Contest: We have 25 copies of NFCShortcuts to giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment below to be entered. Contest ends this Sunday at midnight PST. The contest involves the NFCShortcuts application only, not the NFC tags. For NFC tags, Fonware suggests picking up non-programmed Mifare Ultralight tags.

More information/download of NFCShortcuts

While new BlackBerry 7 devices with built-in NFC have been out for a while now, we're still in search of ways to take advantage of them. There aren't currently many apps or services that make use of NFC, but today RIM and Telefonica have teamed up to bring mobile payments to NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones. Telefonica's BlackBerry Wallet allows users to pay with their device simply by tapping it against a reader. This is the first of what we hope is many NFC payment solutions for BlackBerry and a very welcome addition. Keep reading for the full press release.

Press Release

Brings a secure environment for conducting transactions

• Telefonica Digital has developed a version of its Wallet for NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones
• To be deployed first in Spain as part of a Telefonica pilot that will roll out in several international markets in 2012

WATERLOO, ONTARIO and MADRID, SPAIN--(Marketwire - Nov. 23, 2011) -

Telefónica Digital and Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced a pilot program of the Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry® smartphones.

In collaboration with local banks and retailers, Telefónica will roll out the Telefónica Wallet for BlackBerry to 350 employees at its headquarters in Distrito Telefónica, Spain. Those taking part in the trial will be able to make payments in a simple, easy, safe and convenient way by simply tapping their NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphone against a reader. Employees that are part of the NFC pilot project will also be able use their BlackBerry smartphone (in lieu of a security card) to gain physical access to the Telefónica headquarters office.

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