TAIWAN – Using nothing but a simple touch, NFC enables you to pair accessories to your phone, send contact information or photos to other phones and to check-in to places using location-based services. Now for the first time in the world, it’s possible to call a taxi using this technology, too. Taiwan Taxi was the first company to make this happen, with the help of Nokia, of course.

At 8:12 pm on 14th September, an employee from Nokia touched their NFC-enabled phone to a NFC-enabled poster that’s on display in one of the canteens at the Taiwan Nokia office. When the phone was placed next to the poster, the phone sent an SMS to Taiwan Taxi’s back-end system which confirmed that as the order for a taxi. A mere 15 seconds later a text message returned confirming the booking and gave an assignment number which would be given to the driver to verify the fare. It’s worth mentioning that there’s a small amount of support needed from an operator to help this happen – in this instance, Taiwan Mobile. 

All of this is done within super-fast time meaning an end to waiting in a queue on the phone and telling the taxi firm where you are, as the NFC poster is already programmed with this information.

As we mentioned earlier, this was first possible from a canteen at Nokia in Taiwan, however, it will soon be possible to call a Taiwan Taxi from more than 15,000 stores in Taiwan. These will include Nokia branded retail stores, Taiwan Mobile’s branded retail stores, convenience stores, lottery stations, drink chain stores, famous buildings, corporate sites, restaurants and shopping centers. Only in Taiwan, though – for the time being, anyway.

With Nokia confirming support for NFC with all upcoming Symbian Belle phones, more and more people will be able to experience NFC technology then ever before. Making it more of a common-place experience.

NFC seems to be useful for numerous functions and from our point of view, we can’t see why this same method can’t be used to take the payment of the taxi fare, too. But that’s just our opinion.

Would you find Taxi ordering a useful way of using NFC? Use the comments below, to let us know.