“NFC Technology is
Revolutionizing
Everyday Life”

Interview with Jukka Yliuntinen, Global Head of NFC Solution, Giesecke & Devrient

Trends and insights: Mr. Yliuntinen, why is everybody talking about NFC technology for mobile phones right now?

Jukka Yliuntinen: NFC's versatility in mobile phones is amazing. NFC is very much based on two factors, both of them important for consumer attraction: user-friendliness and a large variety of potential services. When a mobile phone enables a consumer to just touch e.g another similar device and something happens, it is as easy as it can get. Another important aspect is that the different applications on mobile phones are opening up a completely new world to consumers: as well as normal payments, the mobile phone can also act as a ticket for public transport, allow access buildings or be used as a loyalty card to collect bonus points and this is just the beginning. Its very seldom that any technology has so much potential to offer new applications and services for us.

NFC technology has been around for a couple of years now and we’ve seen many successful pilot projects. Why has it not been put into use on a larger scale?

True, G&D participated in many successful NFC trials. However, the problem was not the technology itself but how to reach a critical mass. NFC and its application have been there all the time, but NFC is in crossroad in technology and in business relationships between many different industries, banking, transit, retail and telecommunication. The result was that application developers and mobile phone manufacturers always waited for the other one to take the first step. Also, you need the involved parties to make investments, and that takes time.

But now we are getting there...

...and we now see how the technology matures. Business relationships and models have evolved to the stage where commercial deployments are possible, especially in North America and Europe. Also since Goggle, among others, discovered the potential for personalized, local advertisements, and committed to NFC, things have started to happen.

The major players in many industries want to get on board the NFC train. What can G&D offer them?

With NFC, security is a key question and G&D is more than an expert in mobile security. G&D is a pioneer in this technology, having worked thoroughly to standardize it. Our extensive portfolio offers banks, mobile network operators and transit authorities, service providers an end-to-end solution, which combines hardware, software, and services. G&D is therefore a natural partner to provide secure mobile applications in the future.

Juniper Research estimates that by 2015 there will be 500 million NFC-enabled smartphones. What is your assessment of the future for NFC?

Of course, it is difficult to predict with accuracy the future and propose an exact figure. According to me, 500 million devices would be a best case scenario. If 4 years ago someone had told me that there would be 600 million smartphones, I would have been sceptical as would most experts. NFC offers many application possibilities, making it extremely flexible.