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WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

All smartphones brands with NFC differentiate their products, where iPhone 5 lacks.

Although Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to enjoy strong sales, the lack of NFC (near field communication) functionality in the latest iPhone model will allow rival brands to differentiate their products and to become priority partners for launching NFC-enabled applications and services in cooperation with financial and telecom service companies, according to industry sources.

Most industry watchers believe that the reason Apple rolled out the iPhone 5 without built-in NFC functionality is that Apple aims to promote its in-house developed Passbook technology, which has already integrated a number of functionalities, including the processing of boarding passes, membership cards, tickets, value-stored cards, and various kinds of coupons, but not yet credit and debit cards.

Since a number of smartphone platforms, including Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Bada as well as the forthcoming Windows Phone 8, all support NFC technology, financial firms, telecom carriers and advertisement agencies, among others, are likely to tie up with non-iPhone vendors to launch NFC-enabled services, said the sources.

Samsung Electronics has won the largest number of NFC-related cooperation projects in Europe and Asia, while RIM, HTC, LG Electronics and Nokia have also engaged in a number of cases, revealed the sources, noting that RIM has led rivals in establishing ties with the business sector for NFC applications.

HTC has recently launched three NFC-enabled models, the HTC Desire C, One XC and One X (16G-version), in cooperation with China Merchants Bank, supporting electronic wallet functionality launched by China UnionPay as well as payment systems of China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, the sources commented.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

RIM licensed patent to Microsoft and shares jump.

Microsoft said the patent being licensed by RIM greatly expands the size of files that flash memory devices can handle and increases the speed at which those files can be accessed. The technology also provides the ability to seamlessly transfer data between a variety of different devices.

"This is potentially money out of RIM's coffers for the right to use the ex-FAT patent in its technology. But what it does for investors and others is provide a glimpse into what the BlackBerry 10 devices can do," said Kevin Restivo, a mobile device analyst at global research firm IDC.

RIM hopes the BlackBerry 10 will help it regain market share that has been ceded to snazzier devices such as Apple's iPhone and others that run on Google Inc's Android operating system.

Speculation has been around from sometime now about what and how many BB10 devices will RIM launch in early 2013:

RIM is preparing BB 10 models L-Series all-touchscreen and N-Series w/keyboard.

RIM readying two BB10 beta devices for USA carriers.

RIM shares closed 21 Canadian cents higher at C$7.24 on Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. On Nasdaq, they closed 2.3 percent higher at $7.42.

($1=$0.97 Canadian)

Source: Reuters