NFC Gaining Steam in the United States

I have been following the news out of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  One of the technologies that have been getting some press is the area of mobile payments and near field communications (NFC for us tech types).

I have been making statements for some time now that I think mobile payments and NFC are going to gain traction in the US in 2012, and it sounds like I might be right.  Thanks to Moneto, the adoption of NFC for use as a payment platform may accelerate due to the fact that the consumer does not have to buy a new phone in order to use it.

Moneto is actually a service from DeviceFidelity and Spring Card Systems that uses a microSD card, embedded with NFC technology to enable any phone to act as a mobile wallet.  Any Android phone or table that supports microSD can use the NFC enabled card.  Android users of Moneto are also required to place a sticker on the battery, underneath the cover, in order to assist the NFC signal.  Consumers will be able to buy Moneto is a few months for $30.

iPhone users are not left out either.  Moneto has released an iPhone case, which fits all iPhone models, that has an embedded NFC chip in it.  The case is available now for $80, with $10 in preloaded funds.

This services works with the MasterCard PayPass service and comes with a prepaid MasterCard for the consumer to reload funds onto.  In addition, Moneto will also work with Google Wallet, and the forthcoming Isis service, which is a carrier and credit card sponsored NFC service due out later this year.

So what’s the big deal?  This is the first service and device that will permit users to start using NFC and mobile payments without having to make a new investment in a phone, change carriers, or sign a new service agreement with the existing carrier.  As NFC continues to gain steam here in the US, Moneto is well positioned to further strengthen the NFC based mobile payments market here in the US.

Apple Quietly Acquires Semiconductor Startup

Amidst all of the hubbub at the annual Consumer Electronics Show this week, Apple was quietly at work bolstering their ranks in what some believe is a very important area; engineering, specifically chip engineering.  Apple confirmed this week that it completed its acquisition of Israeli based Anobit Technologies this week.  Apple did not disclose the terms of the deal, but it is believed they paid between $400 and $500 million for the semiconductor startup.

If you don’t follow technology closely or this segment of the business, you may be wondering why this is an important acquisition for Apple.  This is where I come in.  I will give you my perspective on why I think this is a strategic purchase Apple.  Only time will tell if they over paid, but the acquisition is still significant for two reasons.

First, Anobit’s flash memory controllers are a key component of all of Apple’s current leading products.  The iPod, iPad, iPhone, and the MacBook Airs all utilize this technology.  Anobit makes a key component that improves the speed and performance of flash memory chips (NAND chips for the technically inclined).  These chips are all used in the aforementioned Apple products.

Apple has been moving away from mechanical hard drives to the more robust and higher performing flash storage devices for its devices.  It is widely rumored that the MacBook and MacBook airs will begin only shipping with this sort of storage technology in the coming years. This acquisition would be very key in allowing Apple to put this sort of a technology into their MacBooks at a price point that is competitive and palatable by Apples customers.

The other piece of this acquisition that is strategic is that Apple just added about 160 chip engineers to their engineering ranks, which already numbered somewhere around 1000.  This is key as Apple designs its own chips; they don’t rely on AMD, Intel, or IBM to produce the chips that run their devices.  Apple designs their own chips and then outsources the production of those chips to semiconductor plants around the world.

It goes without saying that as it relates to computers; everything starts with the chip that is running the computer.  Apple in a sense got a two for one deal in this acquisition, and felt it was time to own a company to help them continue innovating and creating more mobile and post-pc devices for the next several years.

Have you tried Google Music?

While surfing on Facebook the other day, one of the ads on the sidebar was to get free music from some of my favorite artists.  Upon clicking on the ad, I was taken over to Google music.  Sure enough, there was a 9 sing set from one of my favorite artists, Dave Matthews Band.

I proceeded to add the album into my cart and sure enough, there was no charge for the download.  It is a 9 song set from the band's summer concert that they did in Chicago.

The music quality is really pretty good, so I listened to the entire set while working on a slide deck for work on Friday.  I have to say that I am quite impressed with the quality of the music.  The interface is complegtely different than iTunes, which is nice.  I also brought up Google Music on my iPhone and iPad and was able to play the music easily from the site on those devices too.

I am not sure that I would completely drop iTunes for Google Music, but it is a nice alternative.  Now the only issue is how to do I keep up with two music sites that have music on them.  Granted I have not looked around the Google Music interface exhaustively, but I do not see a way to export the music, or even burn the music to a CD, so I am not sure how I would do that.  Ironicly, I can perform a Google search to figure it out.

If you have not given Google Music a try yet, you should stop by and give it a try.  Who knows, you may find some free music on the site from your favorite artist as well.

Have a great Sunday!