Latest

NFC Forum introduces new NFC specifications

 

New specifications from the NFC Forum aim to introduce more standardization

The NFC Forum, a non-profit assocNFC Forum Mobile Marketing Commerceiation that promotes standardization of NFC technology, has released its NFC Controller Interface specification. The report has been made available for use for free in the hopes of expanding awareness of NFC technology and promoting its proper usage. The NFC Forum notes that its latest publication accounts for a “major new specification, created from the ground up.” This new specification is meant to provide more standardization into the realm of NFC technology.

NFC still reliant on standards

NFC technology is still in its infancy, having emerged in 2004, thus thrives on standards that provide a framework for its usage. Standardization is important to ensure a uniform and pleasurable experience with consumers who will use the technology. Without standards, the experiences companies with an interest in NFC technology offer would vary wildly, leaving many consumers without a clear definition of what the technology is or how it should be used. Standardization aims to provide consumers with the best experience possible by encouraging companies to develop services that can be familiar to a wide range of people.

New specification further defines NFC interface

The new specification from the NFC Forum defines a standard interface between NFC devices and a controller, such as a payment terminal or an NFC-enabled appliance. The NFC Forum believes that the new specification is important because it will allow device makers to more easily integrate chipsets from a wide range of manufacturers. Essentially, NFC chip makers are expected to be compelled to make products that can be used on a wider range of platforms rather than on a limited number of mobile devices.

Specification may help companies adopt NFC-based services

The new specifications coming from the NFC Forum will likely have an impact of the mobile commerce industry. The specifications are expected to make mobile payments somewhat more inclusive for a wider range of consumers, but it will also help companies incorporate NFC-based services more easily. These companies will be able to provide consumers with services using a familiar interface, rather than risk introducing a new interface that may not be well received by consumers.

Important mobile SEO struggles with duplicate content

One of the top challenges to mobile SEO is the proper use of pre-existing conMobile SEOtent.

Those who are new to mobile face a significant challenge with their SEO efforts, as they fear using duplicate content from their traditional site onto their mobile optimized website, which could cause them to lose their ranks with the top search engines.

The reality is that properly formatted content will not be penalized if it is duplicated between traditional and mobile sites.

That said, it is vital that proper formatting and use be achieved, or the risk of losing the best ranks will still exist. The following are the characteristics which must be avoided by mobile websites in order to make certain that you are not causing yourself more harm than good:

• Splitting link equity with app promotion – don’t over-promote your app in the free space on your traditional website as there is a small chance that the platform-specific URLs will be linked and shared instead of the homepage.

• Diluting link equity with carrier pages – even though Google’s webmaster guidelines for mobile no longer state that a duplicate page should not be created for each carrier, it is still wise to avoid the behavior.

• Duplicates between indexed transcoder and legacy sites – if a transcoder was originally used to build a mobile presence, but an in-house site has since been created, the many duplicates could be the result.

• Cross domain duplicates in other forms – though the mobile content from transcoded sites is the most common form of cross-domain duplication of content, there are some other examples of the same site being hosted by several domains without canonical tags to tell search engines which is the primary location. This can hurt the ability to achieve a competitive rank.

• Showcasing the mobile optimized website on the traditional site – creating desktop pages meant to advertise mobile sites can generate mobile site results when they are intended for desktop users. Even worse, those results often outrank the official mobile site.

• Doubled WAP sites – this can occur when a site was originally created for a feature phone but another was built to replace it for a smartphone.

• Promoting the apps ahead of the mobile site – when the mobile app is promoted more heavily than the optimized website, content is often duplicated for the same channel and the link equity is divided. At the same time this will not create additional shares or links that would help to competitively boost the overall rank. The mobile web should always be promoted first.