[dwrtz]

I would just like to point out that NFC is doing well in China, and in Hong Kong it's used brilliantly (public transportation, payments).

I think the reason it hasn't caught on here is because municipalities, malls, theme parks, etc., haven't embraced the technology, so there's no need for it to be in our phones.

[geuis]

I have been looking around for accounts of NFC being as successful as you and other people claim. I'm not refuting your argument, just asking for clarification.

The top search results for "nfc asia" and "nfc hong kong" mainly return press releases and news articles about how NFC is being rolled out. In fact, most of the ones I found are as recent as July and August.

There was one older story from April 2011 talking about "hundreds of field trials" but no follow-on detail.

I'm not doubting that certain markets in major Asian cities have seen NFC rollouts. But I question a) the scale and b) the public reception. Indeed, since smart phones are still catching on in major markets in many Asian markets I am doubtful of how wide-spread NFC adoption actually can be.

I'd love to see some specific stories that refute my point of view.

[snogglethorpe]

> I'm not doubting that certain markets in major Asian cities have seen NFC rollouts. But I question a) the scale and b) the public reception. Indeed, since smart phones are still catching on in major markets in many Asian markets I am doubtful of how wide-spread NFC adoption actually can be.

The strength of phone NFC seems to be that it's basically a "smart card on your phone," and smart cards as a payment method are extremely common in places like Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc., largely driven by their ubiquity in the form of mass-transit cards (Suica, Pasmo, Octopus, etc).

Far more people have smart cards than have smartphones in these places, and so offering smart-card-compatible NFC functionality on phones seems a no-brainer.

The result of this is that NFC-on-your-phone has worked for ages in Japan, on all types of phone ("smart" and otherwise, except the iphone), and as it uses a widespread existing infrastructure, there's no real issue with availability.

In other words, NFC is not something that's dependent on smartphone popularity for success; rather smartphones with NFC are simply trying to take advantage of an existing successful system to become more popular.

As for the question "do people use it?" I can't refer you to any "stories" but I can say that I personally see lots of people paying for stuff with their phone.... [The main issue with smartphones seems to be that the iphone doesn't support NFC, and lots of people have iphones...]

[veidr]

Every single person I know here in Tokyo -- except the iPhone users -- has a cellphone which can can be used to go through ticket gates to board trains, purchase items at convenience stores, and dispense things from vending machines.

Purely anecdotal, granted, but you asked for stories.

(Personally, I use an iPhone with a Pasmo NFC card duct-taped to the back of it.)

[geuis]

Are these the typical long/skinny phones? Curious if these are still prevalent. Last time I was in Tokyo was New Years 2009.

[veidr]

A lot of people still actually use those, but you definitely do see a lot more flat touch-screen 'smartphone' designs lately.

But all kinds of phones have NFC and can be used for trains and buying stuff.

[dwrtz]

As erohead mentioned, the Octopus card is extremely successful, though it's limited to Hong Kong only.

Train stations in mainland China use something similar, though I'm basing this only my experience with one city, but a big one at that (Guangzhou).

Part of the reason why you aren't finding more accounts of successful NFC rollouts in Asia might be because you aren't searching in the local languages.

[erohead]

Octopus cards are incredibly cool in HKG (RFID, of which NFC is a subset). Store some cash and you can use the MTR or buy things from 7-11 super easily. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card Once you try it, you wish North America woke up...

[angryasian]

I can't understand how any of original commenters points are poignant when its a proven technology deployed in large scale in many asian countries. If security and unreliability was an issue, why is it still widespread and adopted in all these countries, and these examples have proven its much more than a feature.

[VLM]

Metric system, Tankless water heaters, Anime, Rice cooker appliances, cheap competitive cell phone service, cheap competitive broadband. Its not exactly the first thing to work great in Asia and not sell in the USA.

[angryasian]

cultural differences still doesn't make any of the commenters points relevant. Theres a better comment higher up explaining security.

[shuzchen]

As someone who spent a lot of time in Japan I can also report that cellphones as payment has been in large use for years now for public transportation, vending machines, etc.