By Damian Koh
23/10/2007
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62033652,00.htm

If you stumbled onto this site because you typed KFC, this page is nowhere close to Kentucky Fried Chicken. But don't be so eager to click the red cross at the top right corner yet. There's still something of interest to you: The possibility that you may no longer need to bring along your wallet on your next trip to a chicken outlet in Singapore.

You mean I get to eat KFC for free?

You wish. However, here's the next best thing. With NFC, short for Near Field Communication, you get to pay for your chicken by waving your phone. NFC is a short-range wireless technology that enables communication between devices less than 10cm apart. It is very similar to RFID, somewhat like Bluetooth and is most commonly used for contactless payments with your mobile phone.

Is this some sort of gizmo wizardry?

Nope. In fact, this technology is pretty much used everyday in Japan. Over there, they call it FeliCa. Walk up to any local in Shibuya on any day and there's a high likelihood you'll talk to someone who's using an "Osaifu Kei Tai"--a wallet phone. Chances are they'll tell you they use it as a smart card for public transport or pay for groceries at a supermarket.

That's cool! Can I do that in Singapore, too?

Well, here's the tricky part. You'll need an NFC-enabled phone for a start. In addition, the relevant industries/parties must be involved in implementing this technology. It's not as simple as we make it out to be and we'll spare you the nitty-gritty.

The good news is one of Singapore's telco operator StarHub has begun its public trial of a new mobile payment service based on the NFC technology. The six-month trial involves 1,000 StarHub mobile phone users and taps on the island-wide network of 20,000 acceptance points operated by its partner EZ-Link.

We're one of them and we're going to tell you what it's like to leave the wallet at home and survive a day with just our NFC-enabled test phone.

The setup

You didn't think you could just take any NFC-enabled phone and watch it perform miracles, did you? First of all, for the purpose of the trial, our test phone was embedded with an EZ-Link chip and an NFC-enabled chip. The earlier supports e-purse capabilities and will be used mainly for getting past train gantries and making purchases at retail stores by tapping our phone on the readers, while the latter allows us to download information or discount vouchers over the air.

Installation of the software and drivers was a breeze and we managed to get everything up and running in under 5 minutes. That included the time to top up credit on the EZ-Link chip via the Sony PaSoRi Reader and our Visa account.

The next day: October 19, 2007

Transport

1000hrs--We got up bright and early knowing we had an important day ahead. We set off leaving our wallet behind and tasked with finding out if this "wallet-phone" concept was feasible in Singapore. Like any voyager on a trip to the unknown, we had butterflies in our stomach before we embarked on our journey. Would we get weird stares? What if it didn't work?

Our first task was to board the public bus holding our trial phone with an embedded EZ-Link chip.

Tap.

We could hear the familiar di-di sound the reader emits upon an authorized transaction. Well, that wasn't so tough. Maybe this whole thing would work after all. In our spare time, we went through the EZ-Link purse application on the phone and it displayed information such as when the last credit top-up was, remaining balance and latest transactions.

1030hrs--The next task was similar to the previous, except now we had to get past the gantry to the public train--the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). The outcome? Another breeze through. There were no hiccups with the embedded EZ-Link chip and it worked as though we were using our smart card.

Smart Tags

1615hrs--Later in the day, we decided to check out some of the smart tags installed by one of the partners of the trial--Golden Village cinemas. We dropped by VivoCity and greeting us on some of the movie poster boards were the NFC smart tags.

Tap.

No NFC device found.

We repeated the same action a few times before we gave up and called the helpline. Even after turning off the phone, removing the battery and placing it back as instructed, the smart tags refused to respond to our persistent tapping.

We called the helpline again and were told it could be because the tags were not activated, yet.

1700hrs--Next, we checked out some of the bus stops at the Orchard Road shopping belt, one of the busiest retail districts of Singapore. We found the first smart tag at the bus stop outside Tangs, but to our disappointment, that didn't work as well.

1710hrs--We decided to trudge on to the next bus stop. This time, we were outside Lucky Plaza. Having been disappointed twice, we were half guessing that there would be a third time, too. Much to our surprise, the tag at this bus stop worked! Upon recognition of the smart tag, we received a text URL message. Clicking on the link opened up the WAP browser and bus service information data was quickly downloaded to the phone via GPRS.

From the handset's display, we were able to view the service numbers at the bus stop, the start/end point of each service number and the entire route of the vehicle.

Food And Beverage

1730hrs--Having taken the public transport and checked out some smart tags with our NFC-enabled handset, the next thing we had to do was fill our stomach at McDonald's, one of the places with EZ-Link readers installed. The counter staff gave us a quizzical look when we placed our phone on the reader, though once the transaction was approved, off she went to prepare our order, no questions asked.

1745hrs--On our way back to the train station, we spotted another outlet at Wisma Atria that was participating in the NFC user trial in Singapore. Besides being able to make purchases at outlets that use EZ-Link as a form of payment, trialists can also download discount coupons via smart posters. We managed to download a promotional offer at Famous Amos that entitled us to 50g of free cookies with every 250g purchased.

1800hrs--By the end of the day, our initial S$10 credit in our EZ-Link purse on the NFC phone was almost spent. Topping up the credit was done at the Add Value Machine found at all MRT stations. The process is similar to what most commuters are familiar with: By placing the card (in our case, the NFC phone) on the reader and topping up value via a credit/debit card.

Our final thoughts

Even though the StarHub NFC trial is still in its early stages, we see great potential in the wireless technology. However, there are still a few bottlenecks, the most obvious being the lack of NFC-enabled phones in the market. We won't say our trial handset looks like a cheap prototype since that's besides the point. But for the whole system to take off, the availability of mobile phones would be our biggest concern.

Next, we would need to consider which industries should spearhead the adoption of the technology and that's already apparent in the current trial--public transport system, retail and entertainment industries, as we can see from the various partners involved.

What's the value for a telco operator like StarHub in this case?. According to the spokesperson, each time a user taps the NFC-enabled phone on a smart tag, it triggers a data download from the server via GPRS and that involves data charges, although the company was also quick to say that the cost involved would be minimal. For the period of the trial, the data charges are waived for the trialists but when the technology goes commercial in the future, telco operators will have the responsibility to inform users regarding any form of charges involved.

Will NFC take off in Singapore? If you've been to Japan and seen how efficient its FeliCa system is, you probably won't have any doubts about the viability of the wireless technology being implemented on an island-wide scale in the future. But like we said earlier, there are still issues which have to be tackled and we're hopeful that one day we may be able to leave our wallet behind and pay for a scrumptious meal of fried chicken by just tapping our phone.

So there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If you know of any, leave a comment here and let us know. One more thing.. We didn't really leave our wallet and other essentials behind. We brought them along, too. You know, just in case.