NFC is a short-range transmission standard that, unlike Bluetooth, requires no previous setup, and allows devices to find one another instantly, over a distance of about 12 inches. Promulgated by the NFC Forum, it extends the ISO 14443 standard for RFID-based proximity cards, combining the functionality of an RFID reader and a Smart Card into one device. Applications include payment, transport, loyalty, access control, smart posters, and smart labels.

According to Twinlinx, however, despite successful NFC pilot programs, there are still few NFC-equipped phones, likely because few users want to replace their devices to gain this functionality. The MyMax device can remedy the situation by adding NFC to any Bluetooth-equipped Windows Mobile phone, the company adds.

Twinlinx says the MyMax (right) measures 1.5 x 1.15 inches (38 x 29mm) and is just 0.07 inches (1.8mm) thick. Designed to be stuck on the back of a phone, the device includes a microcontroller with 128MB of flash memory, an RF reader chip, a Bluetooth chip, and a rechargeable battery, the company says.

Also part of the MyMax is a photovoltaic cell that is said to charge the battery in 20 minutes under full sunlight, in one hour under cloudy conditions, or 16 hours in artificial light. Once charged, the battery's good for up to 300 NFC transactions, the company adds.

Twinlinx says the MyMax device may be used in the following three modes:

• Passive, where it behaves as if it were a standard contactless card
• Internal, where Bluetooth is employed to enable communication between a phone and the MyMax's internal flash memory and/or contactless chips
• Reader, where the MyMax reads external cards/tags, then stores data in its flash memory or transmits it to the phone via Bluetooth

Thanks to a recent collaboration between Microsoft and Twinlinx, the MyMax has been shown to work with Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, according to the companies. The device also is said to operate with Windows Mobile 6.1.

Jacek Kowalski, Twinlinx founder and CEO, stated, "We are delighted to work with Microsoft to extend the use of MyMax with the new Windows phone release. One of the major advantages of developing applications with Windows [Mobile] is the uniformity across different phone platforms. We can now offer the MyMax NFC solution to over 35 million existing Windows phone users, and also give assurance to phone manufacturers that their new models ... will have an NFC ready solution."

Nicolas Petit, a director of the mobile communications division at Microsoft France, stated, "We are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with Twinlinx on such an innovative and smart technology as MyMax. By introducing an easy way to turn each and every Windows Mobile powered phone into a full-fledged NFC-enabled device, MyMax brings to the mass market and corporations a unique solution to fully benefit from NFC applications."

Background

NFC is already widely used in Japan, where commuters commonly use it to quickly purchase train tickets or pay for parking by waving their phones in front of sensors. About 30 percent of all phones shipped globally will incorporate NFC by 2011, a report published last year by ABI Research claimed.

Also last year, Microsoft announced that it would include application programming interfaces (APIs) and other native support for NFC and contactless technology in Windows Mobile, in collaboration with Sirit, an RFID vendor. However, no timeframe for completion of the project was announced at the time.

For several years, Sirit has marketed SDIO- and USB-based RFID readers. Separately, Benq released the T80, a phone incorporating NXP's PN532 NFC chip. Claimed to be the first Windows Mobile device with built-in NFC when it was released in 2008, the T80 was also the first phone capable of storing NFC data such as mobile wallets, tickets, and security information on a microSD card, according to Benq.

Further information

More information on the Twinlinx MyMax device may be found on the company's website, here.

For more information about NFC, including an illustration of its architecture, see our earlier coverage, here.

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