Nook e-readers getting NFC

[SeaKing]

I think the danger of NFC for financial transactions far outweighs any convenience advantage.
I do see a reason for it in a book store to save you having to put in the Wi-Fi password. That is some advantage. Also it is quicker if you can tap a book with it to get the reviews, and maybe an hours read time.

I could see Barnes and Noble allowing Kindles or other eReaders to get the review but not the hours read time. Maybe that would be good advertising or maybe not. Something to consider at least.

[mewmartigan]

I like the concept of NFC although it isn't really implemented much here in the US yet. Some gas stations have the mastercard paypass and its really useful for my DC metro card.

Getting back to this topic though, NFC on a Nook to read reviews and get sample chapters in the store seems like a gimmick. A gimmick they will advertise and most people will stop using soon after purchase. (I like Apple but I am looking at you Siri).

[Kali Yuga]

It's good that B&N is continuing to push technical capabilities. The "glow" Nook is an excellent example of that.

That said, this concept is pretty much Fail.

Why? Because I can already walk into a B&N, scan the barcode, and get pricing and reviews. That is, using Amazon's Price Check mobile app.

Moreover, this is not a lifeline for the stores; if the actual store can't make the sale, the store can't stay open. It becomes a huge cost for B&N, that competitors like Amazon, Apple and Kobo don't have to maintain (and can leverage anyway, as long as B&N keeps its stores open).

Hopefully, B&N will come up with something more useful in the near future.

[RHWright]

I don't see a wow factor here, but anything B&N can do to capitalize on that differentiating factor---the in-store experience---the better, as far as I'm concerned.

To keep the stores viable, and maintain that in-store experience, B&N does need to find a way to credit ebook sales to stores that have prompted them. (I know this doesn't directly effect consumers, but it does the stores, therefore eventually the consumers.)

As it is, all B&N ebook sales get credited as "online." I could go into a store, see an enticing book displayed, talk to a bookseller about it, read a review in physical magazine, read a portion of it in store for free on my NOOK...but when I buy it, the store gets no credit, sales or otherwise. In the long run, this hurts the store and B&N.

The in-store experience, for those it matters to, is one of a short list of things that truly sets the NOOK apart from its competition. It's something Amazon, Kobo, Sony, etc. just don't offer. It makes sense to exploit that advantage, however small.

NFC doesn't seem that mind blowing, but if combined with other plus factors (feel free to wildly speculate) it could work very well for B&N.

[AlexGrama]

It would be nice for a Nook to communicate with a Kindle.

I sense some digital swearing between those two chaps.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by RHWright

To keep the stores viable, and maintain that in-store experience, B&N does need to find a way to credit ebook sales to stores that have prompted them.

This won't keep the stores "viable."

The stores are expensive to maintain. If they can't sell enough paper books, they will be shuttered. Period.

The Nook business is already its own division; once they are split off from B&N (which looks increasingly likely), the chances of them kicking back a portion of revenues to the stores will approach zero.

Originally Posted by RHWright

I could go into a store, see an enticing book displayed, talk to a bookseller about it, read a review in physical magazine, read a portion of it in store for free on my KINDLE... but when I buy it, the store gets no credit, sales or otherwise. In the long run, this hurts the store and B&N.

Fixed that for ya.

Originally Posted by RHWright

The in-store experience, for those it matters to, is one of a short list of things that truly sets the NOOK apart from its competition. It's something Amazon, Kobo, Sony, etc. just don't offer.

They don't have to offer it. B&N offers it for them, free of charge, and can't do squat about it.

Originally Posted by RHWright

It makes sense to exploit that advantage, however small.

Not if the cost of maintaining that advantage is so high that it tanks the company.

The in-store experience, for those it matters to, is about to become unsustainable for the big chains. In 10 years, it'll be as quaint as buying a physical CD in a store, or renting a VHS tape.

[aboudrea]

If I have 2 NFC Chips (let's say in my phone and my security pass), can they talk to each other? It seems like I would need a ready to provide power, isn't it?

[jasoraso]

I'm not sure how NFC works, but I think only one needs power.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by aboudrea

If I have 2 NFC Chips (let's say in my phone and my security pass), can they talk to each other? It seems like I would need a ready to provide power, isn't it?

Correct. The chip is totally inert until it's powered by the reader, so two NFC devices can't talk to each other.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by taustin

Actually, it's still around, and part of the new credit card system (in the US - it's been in use in other parts of the world for as much as a decade) being rolled out over the next few years. Just hasn't gotten much press lately.

Oh, that kind of thing (RFID/NFC) has gotten a lot of press in the security forums. Most of those folks send their cards back requesting one without an embedded chip, or else whack the chip location with a hammer, not to mention popping a passport into the microwave.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I think the danger of NFC for financial transactions far outweighs any convenience advantage.

What dangers do you perceive with it? As has been said, NFC has been widely used for many years in numerous countries without difficulties. Why should issues arise with its use in the US, do you think?

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Oh, that kind of thing (RFID/NFC) has gotten a lot of press in the security forums. Most of those folks send their cards back requesting one without an embedded chip, or else whack the chip location with a hammer, not to mention popping a passport into the microwave.

Item 1: RFID and NFC are not the same thing, though people will believe they are for a while, nor are they intended to do the same things. RFID has a range of several feet, and are far more useful for inventory management - tracking where stuff is in a warehouse, inventory levels, etc. NFC as a range of, basically, touch. An RFID card can, and has been, read while it's in your pocket with a backpack sized device costing at most a couple hundred bucks, and does have some serious security implications. None of which apply to NFC. If someone bumps against you wil you're walking down the street, they're more likely to be picking your pocket than trying to read your NFC credit card. Plus, in most cases so far, the NFC device only works when it's been manually turned on (cell phones have an app, for instance, that you have to turn on and log in to).

Item 2: Within five years, if you damage the chip on your credit card, you will not longer be able to use that card at all. And your bank really won't care if you like it or not. Merchants that do not convert to the new EMV system (which NFC is part of) will be 100% laible for all fraudulent transactions, unlike the current situation where they're not if they follow certain simple rules (mostly to prove they had a physical card in their store at the time). Any retailer who accepts that risk isn't long for this world. But chip & pin or chip & signature cards are different in that the card has a computer chip in it that is part of the system. The merchant can't proces the transation without it. Don't like chip cards? Take cash. It's your only other choice.

Item 3: The EMV systems are significantly more secure for you, the consumer, than the old magnetic strip system. The eliminate the merchant - the retail store -as a point where your card information can be stolen. Which is, BTW, still the most common place for credit card fraud to occur, by far. An underpaid, overworkd, sullen employee who copies down some card info when you're not looking. Well, guess what: with a chip card, they can't get all the information needed to rip you off. It is impossible. Millions of opportunities to steal eliminated.

Yeah, some people will resist, and some education of the public is needed, but it's going to happen and people will accept it because a) the only other choice is to pay cash for everything, and b) eventually, the card holder will also lose some legal protections for using the old magntic strip system. Right now, you are limited to $50 liability if someone steals your card, no matter who much they steal. That will, eventually, not be the case unless your card is a chip card.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by paydayloansinfo

NFC chips haven’t really taken off in the US yet. Overseas people use the Near Field Communication technology to use their smartphones as credit or debit cards. But in the US, they aren’t common enough to use very often even if you have a phone with an NFC chip and Google Wallet installed.

That's what's changing. Merchants are being forced to upgrade equipment that can handle the new chip & pin or chip & signature cards within the next couple of years (the hard deadline is, I believe, late 2015, but within the next month or so it will no longer be possible to even buy equipment that won't do the new chip cards). NFC isn't inherently part of the EMV system, but I have yet to see EMV equipment that doesn't include it.

Once the merchants - retailers - have the equipment in place, new cards will be sent out to consumers, whether you want one or not. The old cards will stop working. Within 10 years, I doubt there will be any magnetic strip cards still in use anywhere in the US. They're already disappearing in some countries in Europe.