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Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

developer.ibm.com

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Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#111

Post by MBCook »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #78
MBCook wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could also be some kind of security thing where the 7 was designed to be able to have 3rd party access where the 6/6s would have required the secure enclave to do something risky. Pure guess.

Well, the Secure Enclave is in every device with a TouchID, so that's the iPhone 5S and newer.

Right but I mean that perhaps in the iPhone 7 they somehow rejiggered the SE interface in anticipation of doing this. That way the 7 hardware has a very secure way to do this where as since it wasn't planned in the older phones it might not be secure if they tried to provide access from user software. Maybe the NFC reader is attached to a different chip in the 7 that makes this easier/secure than in the older phones.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#112

Post by ornitorrincos »

maratc wrote: post #26
threeseed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest use case is probably for public transport. That's something where you are tapping on/off multiple times a day.

Reading NFC transit passes doesn't sound too exciting. I mean, if a phone has an NFC chip, why not use the phone (plus an app) instead of a transit pass, tapping with your phone where you're expected to tap with your pass? This is like your phone wouldn't come with a music player, but would come with a full-fledged oscillograph instead.

where I live you can also recharge the cards using the phone, which while not as useful as using the phone, it's more than a simple reader.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#113

Post by gumby »

janekm wrote: post #69
pfranz wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the coolness requires a critical mass. The idea is usually being a standard, being Apple supported, or being included in Android provides that...in practice, that hasn't been true. I look enviously at other countries that have been using feature phones for banking and p2p banking. The video of a guy in China assembling his own iPhone shows QR codes at each booth used for payment. There's no reason Smart Phon…

Actually, interestingly, QR codes can be better for some payment scenarios than NFC. I live in China and I can go to my local corner shop, pick up a bottle from the fridge, and even if there's a queue at the register I can scan the code from a distance, pay and leave with a nod from the shop keeper. QR codes are also used for exchanging contact information... when I give a talk in China, I put my Wechat QR code at th…

> I put my Wechat QR code at the end so any member of the audience can scan it from the slide

I've always been surprised by this (and even more by QR codes in magazine ads and billboards). I'd think that these days, for 90% of applications a regular URL should work. Just as your photo app thee days marks (and often labels) the faces, it could simply highlight all the URLs, email addresses etc in the image and let you click on them.

Yes, QR codes are more robust (at the cost of a small payload for a large image) but I suspect in most cases it's unnecessary.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#114

Post by giobox »

gumby wrote: post #113
janekm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, interestingly, QR codes can be better for some payment scenarios than NFC. I live in China and I can go to my local corner shop, pick up a bottle from the fridge, and even if there's a queue at the register I can scan the code from a distance, pay and leave with a nod from the shop keeper. QR codes are also used for exchanging contact information... when I give a talk in China, I put my Wechat QR code at th…

> I put my Wechat QR code at the end so any member of the audience can scan it from the slide I've always been surprised by this (and even more by QR codes in magazine ads and billboards). I'd think that these days, for 90% of applications a regular URL should work. Just as your photo app thee days marks (and often labels) the faces, it could simply highlight all the URLs, email addresses etc in the image and let you…

I completely agree, especially on roadside billboards. URLs have the excellent advantage of supporting 'human storage' - i can remember a URL and try it later. QR codes, not so much.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#115

Post by Hippocrates1 »

ponco wrote: post #42

If anyone's wondering, the API is significantly more limited than the Android NFC API (which having used it extensively over the last 2 years I can say is very pleasant). Still, it's better than nothing and it represents a huge opportunity for NFC tag providers (where I work). We've been waiting for this for about 4 years.

looking at the documentation, I'm not able to see if the API allows for even read/write of direct links. Is that the case?

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#116

Post by Crespyl »

hvidgaard wrote: post #99
sangnoir wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QR codes support multiple devices at the same time, and have much larger range for reading (limited by the physical display size). Unique ID's can be built into the app reading the QR code for things like payment transactions. If I control the app reading the QR code (like WeChat), I can easily add state and add some "ping-back" behaviour to ID who/what/where the scan happened.

I think you misunderstood. I never talked about ping back or anything like it. For that, both are exactly the same. I was purely talking about how it scales when you need to identify each item individually, for instance library books. But it wasn't exactly clearly communicated, my bad. For inventory management, it's preferable that each item has its own unique code. So either you need to print a different QR code for…

I'm not convinced that it'd be any harder or more expensive to print a series of unique QR codes onto objects than to use NFC chips.

The heavy use of (granted, not strictly QR) 2D barcodes in physical mail/shipping suggests it's both useful and cost effective.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#117

Post by ponco »

Hippocrates1 wrote: post #115
ponco wrote: post #42

If anyone's wondering, the API is significantly more limited than the Android NFC API (which having used it extensively over the last 2 years I can say is very pleasant). Still, it's better than nothing and it represents a huge opportunity for NFC tag providers (where I work). We've been waiting for this for about 4 years.

looking at the documentation, I'm not able to see if the API allows for even read/write of direct links. Is that the case?

There is no support for writing direct links as you say, but if the data is a standard NDEF URI then I believe the NFCReaderSession will return the NDEFMessage objects (code example https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44415442/nfc-tags-not-de...)

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#118

Post by hvidgaard »

Crespyl wrote: post #116
hvidgaard wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misunderstood. I never talked about ping back or anything like it. For that, both are exactly the same. I was purely talking about how it scales when you need to identify each item individually, for instance library books. But it wasn't exactly clearly communicated, my bad. For inventory management, it's preferable that each item has its own unique code. So either you need to print a different QR code for…

I'm not convinced that it'd be any harder or more expensive to print a series of unique QR codes onto objects than to use NFC chips. The heavy use of (granted, not strictly QR) 2D barcodes in physical mail/shipping suggests it's both useful and cost effective.

Indeed, but they are already printing a label for every parcel, and they used barcodes long before NFC tags was a thing. They already have hardware and tooling in place for it, so unless NFC will save them a significant amount of money it makes no sense to switch.

Think of a stockroom. When you get new inventory, you put on an NFC tag on every item, and then you have to register each which is just one sweep. With QR/barcodes you either have to register and then print and put on the items, or you have to scan each individually after.

Both NFC and QR have strengths and weaknesses. I'm certain that we will see both utilized more and more.

Re: Apple joins the NFC party, providing iOS developers the ability to read NFC tags

#119

Post by janekm »

gumby wrote: post #113
janekm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, interestingly, QR codes can be better for some payment scenarios than NFC. I live in China and I can go to my local corner shop, pick up a bottle from the fridge, and even if there's a queue at the register I can scan the code from a distance, pay and leave with a nod from the shop keeper. QR codes are also used for exchanging contact information... when I give a talk in China, I put my Wechat QR code at th…

> I put my Wechat QR code at the end so any member of the audience can scan it from the slide I've always been surprised by this (and even more by QR codes in magazine ads and billboards). I'd think that these days, for 90% of applications a regular URL should work. Just as your photo app thee days marks (and often labels) the faces, it could simply highlight all the URLs, email addresses etc in the image and let you…

QR Codes do work rather well actually in different contexts, they are very robust. Upside down, from across the room, weird lighting... Also, in the Chinese context, everybody knows what to do with it and what to expect to happen if they scan it.

The farmer coming into the city on a trike selling fruit even accepts payment by QR code :)

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