Following on Sprint’s launch of their employee-only WiMAX/XOHM trial network, the struggling national wireless carrier has announced their plans to roll-out NFC (Near Field Communication) trials in the San Francisco Bay Area. NFC technology basically allows users to pay for goods and services with a simple swipe of the handset near an NFC-enabled payment terminal. NFC has been in use in other countries (think Japan and South Korea) for quite some time now, and has found a fairy strong following in mobile phone-users that want the convenience of combining their handset with their wallet.
Sprint has teamed up with the San Francisco’s Bay Area Transit Authority and “Jack in the Box” to offer NFC payments for train-fare and burgers. The NFC-trial will run from January through May of 2008, and will presumably use already-released Sprint handsets, modified with NFC technology, of course.
Any BART-riders willing to participate in Sprint’s NFC trial? Sign-up and let us know how you like it!