NFC pairing coming to BlackBerry Messenger
Exec strongly hints at rubbing phones to become friends
RIM is looking at using near field communication (NFC), the en vogue technology for smartphones, to help users add new BlackBerry Messenger friends.
Speaking at the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 9360, which features NFC technology, RIM's VP for product for EMEA Rob Orr told TechRadar there was a 'good possibility' that NFC would be used for BBM connections in the future:
"When you think about what NFC can offer, it's things like bringing accessories together – a simple tap to pair, a simple tap to connect on BBM; a number of really simple use cases where if we can perfect the technology, it becomes less prominent and we start talking about easy it is to connect to BBM or pair accessories."
No reason why not
"When you think about it the early use cases [for NFC] are pairing accessories, so there's no reason why you can't use it pair connectivity in applications.
"It's all about making things simple; what we did with the original BBM was use barcode and camera technology for simpler connections – if we can leverage the inbuilt capabilities of the device to make the use case more simple, then we'll do it, absolutely."
RIM is one of the bigger adopters of NFC with the BlackBerry Bold 9900 also packing the technology – and using it to control BBM connections would be a really smart use of the platform, as it certainly beats having to enter a really long PIN code instead.
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Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.