Author: Rebecca

The online search giant has now added itself to the near field communication nonprofit industry association.

Google has taken another step to underline the increasing interest it has in NFC technology by joining the board of directors for the industry association that has taken on the task of moving its use forward on a global scale.

The organization is a nonprofit that is geared toward increasing near field communication use worldwide.

The internet search giant is now a contributor to the NFC Forum, which accepted its participation as of Tuesday. Google, the owner of Android, has a considerable interest in NFC technology for a number of reasons, including its own mobile payments projects which have not been taking off at quite the pace that was expected.

Google had previously been a part of the NFC technology forum at a Principal level.

Following Tuesday, Google’s membership was upgraded to the Sponsor level at the NFC technology organization. Having reached the very top level of membership at the NFC Forum, this entitled the industry giant to a seat on the Board of Directors.

According to the NFC Forum Chairman, Koichi Tagawa, “As both a mobile operating system and NFC payment solution provider, Google brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to our Board.”

The Chairman went on to say that “The NFC Forum – and NFC users everywhere – will benefit greatly from the contributions of Google and our new members from around the world.” This is the belief upon which the organization was founded and that drives it to progress NFC technology around the world for a number of different uses.

The forum has said that it is still adding innovative companies from all over the world to its membership list and that the fact that this roster is growing at such a rate is a clear reflection of the “growing momentum for the adoption and implementation of NFC technology.” Though Google is an important addition to the Board of Directors, the organization does not feel that it will be the last important addition to the group. As adoption and awareness increases, so will the length and quality of this list.

The IDC has announced that smartphones are now shipping in larger numbers than feature phones.

An important first has been making technology news headlines as the International Data Corporation has announced that in 2013, the number of smartphones that have been shipped will be greater than the number of feature phones.

The IDC is calling this a groundbreaking milestone since its initial prediction was made this week.

The IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report has released the technology news in addition to the statistics to back it up. The organization has predicted that approximately 918.6 million smartphones will have been shipped this year around the world. This represents 50.1 percent of the total shipments of mobile phones. Though it is only a sliver above the halfway mark, it represents the first time that the smart devices have taken the lead.

One of the reasons for this technology news is that the price of smartphones is coming down around the globe.

Aside from prices, there are other factors that were included in the technology news announcement. For instance, there are far more options available among smartphones than ever before. Furthermore, there has been a widespread roll-out of data focused fourth generation (4G) wireless networks in many regions worldwide. This has made the devices increasingly attractive to users who can now afford them and can use them in a realistic and practical way.

The technology news report also showed that the IDC anticipates that within the next four years, there will have been 1.5billion more smartphones shipped globally. This will make up more than two out of every three mobile phone shipments.

Central to the size of these technology news numbers are the massive emerging markets around the world, such as those in India and China. According to an IDC Asia/Pacific senior research manager, Melissa Chau, “While we don’t expect China’s smartphone growth to maintain the pace of a runaway train as it has over the last two years, there continue to be big drivers to keep the market growing as it leads the way to ever-lower smartphone prices and the country’s transition to 4G networks is only just beginning.”