The meeting room where the NFC (Near Field Communication) Forum holds their biweekly game of beer pong needs to be upgraded since they’ve just added 29 new members. Some of the companies you may have heard about: HTC, the folks who make high end Android smartphones with this thing called Sense UI on top that makes us want to poke our eyeballs out with the metal end of a USB memory stick; Sharp, a manufacturer of Japanese smartphones that are only now starting to appear in Europe and hopefully North America at some point in the future; ZTE, Huawei’s younger brother who is always trying to get some attention; and Isis, the mobile payment cartel being formed by American operators so that they stay relevant and not cede their control to device makers and/or internet companies.
“Our newest members demonstrate the broad appeal of the work of the NFC Forum, and the variety of sectors that are represented emphasizes the value NFC technology can provide to businesses and consumers. We are pleased to welcome these new organizations’ participation in our work, and their contributions to the global NFC ecosystem. We are especially gratified that Barclaycard recognizes the leadership role of the Forum as demonstrated by their joining at the highest membership level.” — Koichi Tagawa, Chairman of the NFC Forum
While we don’t quite understand why Barclaycard would join the NFC Forum, that isn’t the main point of concern we have with this latest announcement. We would like to know why Apple has yet to join the NFC Forum? So the iPhone 4S doesn’t have NFC, big deal, the iPhone 5 most certainly will, and we’d like to think that Apple has a few things to say about the NFC standard. It’s only a matter of time. Oh and in case your’e wondering: Nokia, Samsung, Microsoft, Qualcomm, they’re already members.