GLOBAL – With the launch of its three first Symbian Belle devices – Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 – Nokia now has six NFC-enabled smartphones in its portfolio; more NFC device models than any other mobile manufacturer. The other NFC devices are the Nokia C7, Nokia Oro and the Nokia N9. It’s now time to have a look at how people can benefit from NFC technology.

NFC is a wireless connectivity technology that enables simple and secure communication between compatible devices just by touching them together.

How to use NFC?

Pairing with accessories
Thanks to NFC, pairing your phone with accessories is easier than ever before. It happens just by touching together two NFC-capable devices. Nokia now has a wide range of NFC-enabled accessories in the market, including the Nokia Essence headset, Nokia Play 360 wireless speaker and Nokia BH-505 ergonomic headset.

Sharing content
You can share content like photos or business cards between two NFC-compatible phones. What’s even more exciting, you can play multiplayer games, like Angry Birds Magic, with your friends.

Getting quick access to services
When a phone is held near an NFC tag, it can read data from the tag. This data could be a link to the download of the menu from a favourite restaurant, the specifications for an electronic gizmo, or public transport timetables; the possibilities are endless.

In the future you will also be able to use your mobile phone as a credit card or travel card, thanks to secure NFC. Nokia will bring secure NFC to the Symbian platform in the first half of 2012, and all the future Symbian smartphones will support NFC.

Opportunities for developers

Nokia’s new generation of NFC capable phones is already opening up new opportunities for innovative developers around the world. Qt SDK, Nokia’s core development framework, enables the efficient creation of mobile applications for Symbian and Meego. Developers can start developing with NFC for Symbian and MeeGo today using the Qt Mobility API beta (v.1.2.). For more information on how to get started, please visit http://www.developer.nokia.com/NFC.

Check out a video on Nokia’s NFC offering.

Have you already used NFC? Tell us what you think in the comments below.