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AT&T says Galaxy S III pre-orders won't land until June 25th, Samsung decides to celebrate anyways
Samsung's US Galaxy S III launch is turning out to be quite the muted affair. Along with news of staggered Sprint and T-Mobile releases, AT&T is now adding that its Galaxy S III version likely won't make June 21st at all. Pre-order customers who were promised the phone this week are instead being told to wait until June 25th; they might get it early, should the smartphone stars align properly. If you're having pangs of regret for not pulling the trigger earlier, you'll have to wait up to 10 business days before before that Marble White or Pebble Blue beauty shows at your door. AT&T is pinning the delay on short supply, much like its fellow American launch carriers. Not that the lack of handsets is stopping Samsung from kicking off an elaborate launch campaign of its own. Along with the usual celebrity and Times Square stunts, the Korean corporation is starting up a curated media hub, Beacon, and placing NFC-equipped Share-to-Go Stations: those in the happy position of carrying a Galaxy S III in their hands can download free content just through swinging by a kiosk. You can catch the full details of Samsung's escapades after the break.
Samsung files a patent for a capacitive stylus with NFC and headset, your next C-Pen may get talkative
Samsung is clearly big on pens. It's no shock, then, that we now know the company applied for a patent on a new stylus while the original Galaxy Note was still fresh out of the box. The capacitive pen of Samsung's dreams includes its own wireless headset in the clip to make voice calls without having to buy a separate earpiece -- something that we've only seen recently in the real world. It would even find room for NFC to pair the pen up with a host device using a minimum of fuss. The most appealing part of the patent may be its pragmatism. Unlike some of the flight-of-fancy patents we've noticed lately, the technology in the new stylus is well within reach. No patent is ever a surefire sign of action, but it's no great leap in logic to see a follow-up to the C-Pen or S Pen letting us call for pizza in between drawing sessions.
TecTiles: programmable NFC stickers for select members of Samsung's Galaxy
NFC's a curious thing. That once heavily buzzed about feature's found a home in many of the handsets that occupy Android's swiftly rotating throne, but eager users wielding those enabled devices haven't been given much to do with it. Visa's payWave aside, Samsung's finally cooked up a means of making the near field tech a more integrated and efficient aspect of our modern lives -- well, the lives of other Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II (T-Mobile only), Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S 4G and Galaxy S Blaze 4G owners, to be precise. Enter: TecTiles. In tandem with its flagship's impending US launch, the company's going to be offering packs of branded NFC stickers at retail that can be programmed with useful actions and placed wherever adhesive is welcome. Need to set up a seamless Foursquare check-in for your place of business, leave a message on the fridge for members of your family, effortlessly transfer your contact info or even silence your phone automatically at a meeting? That's where Sammy's stickers come in handy, sidestepping the multitude of taps it normally takes to enter data or navigate a mobile UI with a simple close encounter of the NFC kind. If the implementation sounds eerily familiar, that's because you may have seen it before in the form of Smart Tags -- Sony's own spin on the communication tech. As you might imagine, there's an app to manage each individual TecTile's settings that will be made available after an initial pairing. And, according to one of the company's reps, each unlocked sticker can be programmed up to 100,000 times, a high enough ceiling that should get you plenty of mileage, glue willing. Naturally, there's a limit to this initial rollout's NFC-love and that's where things could get pricey, given that each TecTile can currently carry only one function at a time. Plans are underway, however, to expand beyond this limitation by enabling multi-functions in future iterations of the tacky tech -- whenever version 2.0 touches down. For now, though, you'll have to make frugal use of the stickers, considering they'll be marked at $15 for a pack of five. So, if you're still standing undecided on a Galaxy S III purchase despite its litany of capabilities, then this long-overdue feature could very well prove to be the wallet-tipping point. %Gallery-158101%
Nintendo shows final Wii U Gamepad, TV remote app (update: video)
Looks like Nintendo didn't want to wait for its proper E3 press conference to spill some Wii U details early -- it just used its preview event to show the finished version of the Wii U controller, called the Gamepad, as well as a TV remote app. The Gamepad is decidedly wider than what we saw a year ago, with comfort clearly the top priority in other areas: the analog sticks have been moved further outwards and made clickable, while the back grip has been tweaked in the process. There's also no doubt as to where to interact with NFC gadgets, either, as a dedicated spot below the directional pad will take all your device-to-device taps. As for the remote, it looks to be a straightforward number pad navigator with a programming guide, all steering your TV through infrared. Between this and the Wii U Pro Controller, though, it's clear Nintendo hasn't been sitting still in the past year, and has some home theater ambitions in the process. We're curious as to what Nintendo is saving up for its bigger gala on Tuesday. Update: Join us past the break to view the webstream for yourself!
BlackBerry Music Gateway goes on sale, brings a little NFC into your life
RIM showed off the BlackBerry Music Gateway with the promise of a June release, and it's clearly not wasting any time: the first of the month has seen the tiny audio bridge go on sale. It'll set you back $50, but you'll get a conduit for music from any Bluetooth-packing device, whether or not it has that signature 7-dot logo on the back. The extra-special BlackBerry affection comes through NFC support, where equipped phones like the Bold 9930 can pair faster through a friendly tap. Buying straight from the source will lead to a one- to two-week wait, but if you're looking for the most polished way to share your musical tastes from a BlackBerry or PlayBook, it's likely worth being patient.
PSA: Resetting your phone risks upsetting Google Wallet, unless you do it right
Spare a thought for Google Wallet users who have learned this the hard way, but at least you won't have to fall into the same little-known trap. Essentially, if you have a Galaxy Nexus, HTC EVO 4G LTE or any other compatible handset and you perform a factory reset, there's a high chance you'll spoil the secure element that is designed to protect your NFC chip from tampering. This disables Google Wallet and it seems there's no fix once that happens, other than calling up a friendly (and hopefully interactive) customer service agent. However, there is a way to prevent it: before factory resetting, you have to go into the Google Wallet app, choose 'Menu' then 'Settings' and 'Reset Google Wallet'. There it is -- simple enough, but evidently not advertised enough by Google or the phone manufacturers themselves.
Rogers and CIBC make joint deal for NFC mobile payments in Canada, let you check out with your BlackBerry
Canadians sometimes can't catch a break: while NFC payments have been relatively common for Americans, Europeans and certainly the Japanese, Canucks have had to largely make do paying with ye olde credit carde. Rogers and national bank CIBC want to put an end to these antediluvian ways: starting later this year, CIBC card holders will just need to swipe an NFC-equipped BlackBerry like the Bold 9900 (Bold 9930 for CDMA-loving Americans) at a matching terminal to pay at a given store. The only special requirement is a secure SIM card that gives customers the freedom to change phones, even if it does create problems switching banks or carriers down the line. We're just hoping that Android and other platforms get the same treatment and let more of our Canadian friends pay for poutine that much faster.
Isis partners with Austin and Salt Lake City merchants, throws John Stockton elbow at Google Wallet
Mobile payment system Isis continues to rack up passengers on its merry bandwagon, gaining support from local merchants in two cities for its NFC wallet service. The carrier-based program announced that hundreds of merchant locations in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah are entering the Isis fold -- joining national entities such as Coca-Cola and Macy's in its initial list of partners. The selection of participating local businesses runs the gamut from cafes and restaurants to a country club and the Utah Jazz. The platform has already corralled support from handset makers, point-of-sale terminal purveyors and credit card companies such as American Express. Expect some Mortal Kombat action for your mobile purse strings between Google Wallet and Isis once the latter launches this summer. In the meantime, check out the obligatory PR after the break.
VeriFone outs Sail mobile payment system, gives Square the evil eye
VeriFone has decided that calling out claimed security holes and focusing on enterprise-level payment options aren't enough to take on Square. Sail goes more directly for Square's jugular, using its own plug-in dongle to handle major credit card payments in your local coffee shop or a mid-sized outlet. The VeriFone party trick comes through having multiple payment options, where shopkeeps can either choose to pay a flat 2.7 percent cut of every sale, or shell out a $10 monthly fee to lower the transactional take to 1.95 percent. Programming interfaces will let you hook in deals from social networks, too. And as you might expect, the company is still keen to tie Sail to its traditional payment systems, opening the door to NFC readers as well as other payment hardware that isn't quite as mobile. Stores with iPhones will be the only ones using the free Sail mobile apps and readers at first, but Android- and iPad-toting entrepreneurs will have their alternative to Square or PayPal Here as soon as the end of May.
MasterCard gives PayPass blessings to HTC One X, 16 other NFC phones
MasterCard is widening the universe of phones that officially support PayPass in a big way, with a new MasterCard PayPass Ready program certifying that devices with NFC will play nicely with its mobile payment system. A total of 17 phones are part of the first wave getting the official A-OK. Some of these are known quantities already using PayPass, like the LG Viper 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus HSPA+, but others are new to the PayPass ways. Among the picks are the HTC One X, Intel's smartphone reference device and the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC. A raft of BlackBerrys and lower-end Samsung Galaxy phones are likewise in the fray. While only a handful of these might ever work with Google Wallet or other US-focused NFC payment methods, you can check out the full roster in the release after the break.
Google patent app describes NFC sharing between devices, gives us Beam deja-vu
Android Beam has been with us since October of last year and now we might just be getting a look into how it came to be. A patent application made public today describes "sharing application states" across messaging apps, ongoing phone call status, as well as playback position for video and audio on multiple devices via NFC and "other" wireless communication. If you think the potential uses for the tech discussed in this filing from September of 2011 sound strikingly familiar, you're not the only one. Could this really be a part of Android Beam, or does Google have something else up its sleeve?
Barnes & Noble's Nook e-readers getting NFC, says CEO
Now that all of that Microsoft-related news is out in the open, Barnes & Noble's CEO William Lynch is ready to talk about the future. Fortune sat down with him to discuss the deal and what's next for the Nook. The answer to the latter is, at least in part, near-field communication. The exec talked up plans to begin embedding NFC chips into the readers, offering up a bit of synergy between physical books and their electronic counterparts. Says Lynch: We can work with the publishers so they would ship a copy of each hardcover with an NFC chip embedded with all the editorial reviews they can get on BN.com. And if you had your Nook, you can walk up to any of our pictures, any our aisles, any of our bestseller lists, and just touch the book, and get information on that physical book on your Nook and have some frictionless purchase experience. As for whether that functionality will actually be hitting this year, Lynch offered up a big old "maybe."
Leaked Rayman Legends for Wii U trailer showcases NFC feature (video)
If you're counting down the days till the Wii U is released, you might recall that back in January Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata said the console will ship with an NFC chip inside. Well, you can now get a taste of how games will incorporate that feature, thanks to this just-leaked trailer for Rayman Legends. According to the video, Rayman Rabbid action figures can jump into the game when a player taps them to the Wii U's screen. (It looks like that trick will work with an Assassin's Creed Ezio Auditore da Firenze figurine too.) Check out the trailer, courtesy of Gamekult, while you can -- after all, Ubisoft didn't want you to glimpse the U's magical powers just yet.
30 million NFC-equipped phones shipped in 2011, could reach 700 million by 2016
Those working on life-changing uses for NFC in phones will now find it even harder to explain why life still hasn't changed. According to Berg Insight, annual global sales of NFC-equipped handsets increased ten-fold to reach 30 million units in 2011 and are forecast to grow to 700 million units by 2016. The analysts attribute this rise to general smartphone adoption rather than to demand for NFC as such, which makes sense from where we're sitting. Aside from a few proximity-based apps, Google Wallet and some other handbag-spurning payment schemes, there's still no overwhelming reason to gear up. GPS and WLAN, on the other hand, remain must-haves, and the PR below looks at their prevalence too.
Wii U controller to pack NFC, says Iwata, create new gameplay options
Aching for more details on Nintendo's elusive Wii U console? Let Satoru Iwata scratch your itch -- quarterly reports aren't just for reporting losses and announcing new networks, after all. Boss hog Iwata told investors that Nintendo is spicing up their next console's tablet-esque controller with a little NFC magic. Nintendo's President briefly entertains the possibilities of a console controller rocking near field communication, suggesting that Skylander-like figurines or NFC enabled cards could be created to present a "new play format in the video game world." He even says the technology might be used to implement micropayments. Sounds neat -- but will you be able to buy DLC with your Google Wallet?
Parrot reveals Starck-designed Zik Bluetooth touch-activated headset, Zikmu Solo wireless tower speaker (hands-on)
Parrot's AR.Drone 2.0 may have been one of the more joy-inducing wares we've seen here at CES, but that was yesterday. Today, we dare to say that that one of two audio devices just unveiled (and designed by Philippe Starck, we might add) has our jaw dropping, and our ears tingling -- the absolutely gorgeous Zik Bluetooth touch-activated headset, pictured above. The Zik's loaded with goodies -- Bluetooth connectivity, active-noise cancellation, NFC and touch controls on either earcup, not to mention its jawbone and "presence" sensors among a few other notable tidbits like its DSP-enabling app that adds a "concert-type" vibe to its sound. As far as that second device goes, Parrot's introducing a singular stereo version of its Zimku wireless tower speakers, aptly named Zikmu solo. Head past the break to find our brief impressions and a video overview of a pre-production Zik, and hit up the galleries below for some closeup shots of it and the Zikmu solo.
Bluetooth SIG, NFC Forum come together, right now, over pairing
Personally, we wish the NFC Forum and Bluetooth SIG behaved like the elder robots of Chapek 9, controlling the world from an underground bunker. Instead, the two industry bodies ensure interoperability and standards of their respective technologies. Now they've gotten 'round the table and hammered out the dryly titled "Bluetooth secure simple pairing using NFC," a guide for developers to ensure hassle-free hook-ups 'twixt smartphone and device. The paper includes breakdowns on ensuring the kit will team up pedometers, headsets, car dashboards and push content from your phone to your TV -- something we've been told we watch too much of, given our Futurama fantasies.
Microsoft Tag adds support for QR codes and NFC, seeks barcode dominance
Last year, Microsoft Tag shed its beta skin and stepped out into the wild world of multi-colored barcodes. Now, Redmond has decided to revamp and expand its system, with additional support for both QR codes and NFC capabilities. The update effectively allows businesses and individuals to create their own proprietary Tags or QR codes, while enabling consumers to scan said codes with their Microsoft Tag apps, or NFC-enabled smartphones. The new features are now available on Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry handsets, reflecting Microsoft's ambitions to dominate a space that has yet to fully develop.
Gemalto chosen by Isis to keep its NFC and mobile payment service secure
Let's face it: one of the only ways we'll ever see mobile payments become mainstream is to get the general public on board. To do so, we have to be confident it's safe, and mobile wallets are currently viewed as anything but. Isis, the joint NFC venture between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, understands this, and just announced that it's teamed up with Gemalto to deploy a Trusted Service Manager to provide secure provisioning of consumer information and sensitive financial data. The Google Wallet competitor appears to be gaining momentum, as the three carriers have pumped $100 million into the initiative, and several OEMs have pledged to support the service in their phones. Isis also went on to discuss that its focus is not going to be entirely on the mobile wallet; it will offer a few other NFC-related services, such as smart posters that can beam coupons and tickets to your phone, using your handset as a key to get access to an office or home, and storing your train or bus tickets. The question remains: if you're confident that your financial information is secure, are you willing to try out contactless pay? Or is it ever truly safe?
Android NFC app makes Facebook friendships a touch easier
Imagine yourself in the awkwardly staged situation you see above: you're in a club that's filled exclusively with girls. One's jumping around, shaking her hair, but you're desperately trying to recite the address of your Facebook page to her above the din. It's not working. Fortunately, Add Friend is here to ameliorate these tricky first social steps through the magic of Near Field Communication. Granted, it's still unlikely that: a) you'll both be carrying NFC-capable Android phones and b) have already downloaded and registered this particular app. Putting those issues aside, you and your future BFF / SO will both need to have the app running and then bring your smartphones together in a loving embrace, and letting the near-field magic transmit your Facebook details across. And remember, for any accidental adds that don't work out, the unfriend option will always be there for you.
