NXP has more than halved its forecast for shipments of NFC-enabled mobile phones this year.
“"Previously, we have provided a range of between 40 to 100 million NFC-based handsets being shipped in 2011,” says CEO Rick Clemmer, “however, we currently see the ramp is likely to be towards the lower end or perhaps even slightly below our initial range for 2011 as the mobile operators implement their deployment strategies.”
Clemmer blames the “shortfall” in the company’s projection is partly due to “a combination of formulation and agreement on the specific business models to support the ecosystem.”
Which appears to mean there’s an argy-bargy about who gets what slice of the cake.
Rumours persist that Apple is to have an NFC chip in the iPhone 5 which effects payments through PayPal.
Google has gone in with Mastercard and Citi to implement a payments system for GoogleWallet.
The network carriers are joining with the traditional credit card companies with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile saying they'll work with Mastercard and Visa on their Isis joint venture
NFC effectively turns a phone into a credit card, so the big potential losers from NFC are Mastercard, Amex and Visa which take as much as 3% of the value of a transaction in return for processing it.
Big retailers may see NFC as an opportunity to escape from the grip of the credit card companies which they have often said is too onerous.