Yesterday Google gave the first demonstration of its near field communication-fuelled mobile payment system, Google Wallet.
Depending on your point of view, it is either another step towards the digital/sci-fi future that will make all our lives that much easier or the final part of Google’s plan to know everything about you and sell on to companies looking to advertise at you.
The truth is it’s probably a little bit of both.
But, whether or not you are passionately against the digital multinationals harvesting more information about you, the fact is NFC technology is the future and people will eventually pay for things using their mobile phones.
The more obvious uses for NFC technology reside squarely in the B2C world, with payments, loyalty cards and discount coupons all being obvious fits.
But the business world could also benefit from the technology; stock checks, data sharing and swapping business cards at meetings are all viable examples. Trade shows and events are an environment I can imagine this technology being put to increasingly ingenious use.
And there will be more. The B2B world often ends up re-appropriating technologies initially designed for the consumer (just look at Twitter).
Can you think of any other NFC B2B possibilities?
And how do you feel about Google knowing about everything you buy as well as everything you look at online?
Is hyper-targeted advertising even that bad? (perhaps that depends on whether you are sending out the messages or receiving them).
