Philips, Nokia join forces on NFC

The trial, which starts early 2005, will enable RMV's current customers to use Nokia 3220 phones equipped with tailored Nokia NFC shell covers to gain access to a local bus network in Hanau, a city near Frankfurt. As a result, travelers can enjoy a convenient and secure solution designed around their needs to buy, store and use tickets with their Nokia 3220 mobile phones. As the first live NFC-based ticketing application of its kind, the trial will use Nokia 3220 mobile phones with a contactless NFC solution, based on the Nokia NFC shell - the mobile phone's outside cover. The RMV electronic ticketing application will be securely stored on an integrated smart card controller in the phone, and is fully compatible with today's smart card-based ticketing products. Users will simply need to touch their phones against the contactless reader as they get on and off the bus to register their journey. This trial will provide the companies with practical experience of NFC-enabled mobile ticketing on a check-in/check-out basis, paving the way for broad adoption of the technology. “Nokia is taking a leading role in bringing easy and convenient touch-based interactions to the market. Local ticketing is a great example of how mobility can bring completely new value to consumers and companies that serve them. This ticketing trial will provide us with valuable experience to meet requirements from mobile operators, transport operators and end-users going forward.” said Jarkko Sairanen, Vice President, Strategy and Planning, at Nokia Technology Platforms. Jointly developed by Philips and Sony, NFC enables touch-based interactions in consumer electronics, mobile devices, PCs, smart objects and for payment purposes. Consumers are seeking easier ways to interact with their immediate environment and want to experience easy communication between their electronic devices and gain fast access to services. An intuitive technology, NFC bridges that connectivity gap and allows the connected consumer to interact with their environment. The trial implementation is in line with the Association of German transport operators (Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen,VDV), specification that has been developed for a country wide electronic ticketing core application (VDV Kernapplikation). NFC is compatible with the broadly established contactless smart card infrastructure based on ISO 14443 A, which is used in Philips' MIFARE® technology, as well as with Sony's FeliCa™ card.