NFC stands for Near Field Communication, a miniaturized communication technology that allows two devices to communicate with each other by touching them together or bringing them in close proximity. It is the most straightforward and convenient way to transfer small amounts of data such as contact details or a unique url to a mobile experience. It's a quick and easy way that you can use and it doesn't require mobile apps to work.
The size of an NFC tag is approximately 25 millimeters, about the size of a coin and as flat as a piece of paper.
A typical NFC used by Tappr works between 3cm and 8 cm. It varies based on the type of NFC you are using, with high-frequency NFC you can experience ranges as high as 30 centimeters.
The process of NFC with mobile experiences is as follows:
1. Hold your smart phone near an NFC tag
2. The phone buzzes and asks you to open the URL
3. The website loads and the mobile experience starts
There are two basic components:
The antenna allows the tag to receive power from the phone, after the microchip is powered, a signal is returned through the antenna and the phone receives a small piece of data.
An NFC tag does not have a battery. The power for the NFC tag comes entirely from the mobile phone.
NFC is a passive tag, it does not have GPS or microphones or any other sensor. It is only a way to communicate and share data. We do not store any data on an NFC tag, only a reference to an online experience, information in the experience that is 'sensitive' is protected, like any other application.
NFC Tag encoding is writing or transferring data to the NFC tag. Besides the data, you can specify the way the tag communicates with mobile phones. Whether tags are allowed to be rewritten and how often they're allowed to be scanned.
It depends on the tag type, encoding of the tag and the volume of tags ordered. Often, the most basic tags start at 0.15 cent per piece when bought in bulk.