Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile operator in the U.S., along with U.S. payment brand Discover Financial Services have joined the NFC Forum as principal members, giving them a say in developing NFC standards and forum policy.
Large NFC tag supplier Smartrac upgraded its membership to the principal level, as well. Principal members, the second-rung down from sponsor-level board members, can appoint voting representatives to forum committees and working groups, propose initiatives and participate in the group’s testing and certification program.
Verizon joins No. 2 U.S. mobile operator AT&T as principal members. The two operators, along with T-Mobile USA, own JVL Ventures, better known as Isis, which itself is a lower-level member of the NFC Forum.
Verizon and AT&T are two of the few mobile operators that are members of the NFC Forum. The standards and trade association counts most of its top members among hardware suppliers, either chip or handset makers. Most telcos, which take a SIM-centric approach to NFC, are more likely to try to influence NFC standards through other organizations, including working through their global trade group, the GSMA.
Both Verizon and AT&T have been working on other NFC applications besides payment and retail, and both telcos are likely developing their own mobile wallets. Payment and retail mobile-commerce applications are within the purview of Isis, and the Isis Mobile wallet.
Meanwhile, Discover is expected to be gearing up to offer NFC-enabled payments in the U.S. It was an early backer of the planned joint venture that would become Isis, when the telcos were planning to introduce their own payment brand at the physical point of sale, using Discover’s acceptance network.
After the telcos dropped that idea, Discover along with the three other major U.S. payment schemes, Visa, MasterCard Worldwide and American Express, said they would accept payments from the Isis wallet. Discover, however, is the only one of the four not participating in the Isis two-city trial.
Discover might make its payment application available for the Isis Mobile Wallet after the joint venture begins its nationwide launch, planned for this year. Discover earlier trialed NFC-enabled microSDs, as well as conducting a separate NFC trial with an early Motorola NFC phone model. It also introduced passive contactless stickers.
Smartrac, which ranks among the largest NFC tag suppliers worldwide, is the only tag company at either the sponsor or principal level in the NFC Forum.
The forum also announced that since March five new associate members and three nonprofits have joined, along with five new implementer members, the lowest forum membership category. It brings total membership in the association to more than 190.
Chip or device makers account for 10 of the 13 forum board member positions: NXP Semiconductors, Broadcom, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, NEC, Nokia, Renesas Electronics and STMicroelectronics. The remaining board seats are reserved for Google, MasterCard and Visa.