Today, the company announced the availability of Samsung TecTiles stickers, complemented by TecTile programming application.
TecTiles will be available at the launch of Galaxy S III on four of the largest wireless carriers in the United States, ensuring that NFC technology will become part of users’ daily lives.
Users will be able to automate everyday functions on their smartphones through simply tapping on an NFC-enabled phone to a TecTile.
Among the possible actions, Samsung mentions sending a “headed/at home” text message, turning the phone to silent, setting alarms, or dimming the display when going to bed.
Moreover, Samsung’s TecTiles are also capable of changing the manner in which business engage with their consumers.
Users will be able to check in on Facebook or Foursquare using them, to connect to WiFi networks, download content, and the like.
Moreover, businesses can take advantage of TecTiles to market products and engage with consumers through coming up with reward programs, discount offers and more.
“With millions of NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy smartphones currently in the market and the arrival of our flagship device Galaxy S III, Samsung saw an opportunity to expand the value of NFC beyond mobile payments,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America.
“The launch of Samsung TecTiles is another example of Samsung’s ability to innovate new products and applications that improve the way we use our mobile devices for everyday tasks.”
Samsung designed TecTiles to be easily programmable using any NFC-enabled smartphone and the free application, available for download today in the Google Play Store.
Using Samsung’s new technology, handsets can be set to complete functions such as changing settings, (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ringer/media volume, screen brightness, etc.), launching applications, joining a WiFi network, or displaying a message.
TecTiles also enable users to make a call, send a text messages, start a Google Talk conversation, share a contact or business card, show an address on a map, open a web page, Foursquare or Facebook check-in, automatic Facebook “Like”, update Facebook status, post tweets, and connect on LinkedIn.
NFC-enabled Samsung devices in the United States include Galaxy S III on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon, Galaxy S II on T-Mobile, Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, Sprint and GSM Unlocked, Nexus S 4G on Sprint, and Galaxy S Blaze 4G on T-Mobile.
Samsung has announced a price tag of $14.99 for a pack of five TecTiles programmable NFC sticker tags. They can be found online and in-store at wireless carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
The free Samsung TecTiles app can be downloaded via the Google Play Store.
Samsung TecTiles a warmup act for mobile payments - CNet
Samsung's free TecTile app can program NFC stickers.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Samsung may present its new TecTiles near-field communications (NFC) stickers-and-app combo as a campaign for consumers to do more with their phones, but in the long run, Samsung hopes for much more.
The electronics-maker told CNET that TecTiles should ultimately help serve Samsung its slice of the mobile payments pie. Its TecTiles app lets you program an NFC sticker to do various things when you tap a compatible phone to it, like turn on or off certain phone settings, or check in to a location on your social networks.
Yet, NFC, a technology that uses short-range communication similar to Bluetooth, has yet to go mainstream in any capacity.
Part of the problem, according to Samsung, is that ordinary people are unused to physically using their phone to do things. Consumers know how to swipe cards and punch numbers, not to press a phone onto a terminal and authorize payment through an app.
Once upon a time Google Wallet stood as the best chance for NFC to take off, with Samsung providing the first phone to receive the app capabilities. Yet, Google Wallet's development stalled thanks to a Verizon push-back that kept the app off of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and by narrow requirements for using the app with a single bank and credit-card combination.
In addition, not many businesses accept Google Wallet, as CNET editors Brian Bennett and Roger Cheng discovered when they took Google Wallet on a test drive through Manhattan. They almost didn't make it out of a cab when the app stuttered.
Just this week, another report suggested that Sprint is working on a Google Wallet alternative.
It's no wonder, then, that Samsung thinks that NFC needs some positive press, and is furthermore tasking itself with making NFC lovable in ways that aren't related to payments. Once people feel comfortable with TecTiles, Samsung reasons, then using the technology to buy stuff is a logical next step, rather than a scary leap.
To that end, TecTiles can be seen as a social experiment, a warmup act before the main usage takes the stage.
Samsung's thinking seems to line up with others in the payment space, like American Express, which estimates a 4- to 6-year tipping point before mobile payments take off with gusto.
When NFC buying does succeed, Samsung wants to make sure that it's one of the movement's key players. And if that fails, well, at least Samsung will be able to make a few bucks or win a few hearts in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment