When equipped with the NFC standard resulting in a combination of RFID and smart card technologies with a close proximity requirement, smartphones are powerful interaction initiators between material objects, becoming communication and digital services. The three NFC modes cover a great variety of use cases with unlimited applications and unlimited imagination.

With a quick and simple targeted proximity gesture (the 3 “S” and “Tap’n Play”, see Introduction), the user can access geolocated, customized, contextualized and multimedia information finding applications in tourism, leisure, culture, technology, education, commerce, etc. These examples are not limited, because the NFC event is characterized by a spatial temporality (“here and now”) and identified components (like a tag identified by its UID or its content, or the mobile device’s holder identified by its IMEI) with the NFC reader/writer mode.

In P2P mode, NFC reaches a new dimension and allows to pair two devices that will then be able to exchange data (e.g. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® and Li-Fi) when the initiator decides to do so (his/her will is induced in the fact that he/she brings the two devices into close proximity, with or without set-up during the first contact).

In card emulation mode, NFC not only allows to secure transactions with the implementation of protocols and cryptographic techniques inherited from smart cards technologies, but it also brings a major added value to static services hosted in smart cards that are not very ergonomic and ephemeral (e.g. credit/debit cards, loyalty cards, health insurance cards, transportation cards, access cards, ID cards and other digital documents); all smart card services can be dematerialized in the SE and benefit from the user-friendliness, mobiquity and intelligence of smartphones.

In Chapter 1 on the state-of-the-art of NFC, we addressed the NFC standard normalized by the NFC forum since 2004 that can be applied to many sectors. Yet, in its most noticeable use, the implementation of secure NFC services (in card emulation mode) requires the converging interoperability of industry leaders in heterogeneous sectors (service providers, computer science, manufacturers, telecoms, banks and finances, governments…); the market is growing toward a standardization of secure management interfaces centralized by GlobalPlatform organization around a complex ecosystem.

In Chapter 2, we detailed an introduction to NFC mobile programming with Android in the three NFC modes. The coding examples will help the developer in implementing his own NFC applications with an Android device equipped with NFC technology.

In Chapter 3, we discussed the examples of concrete use cases in the three NFC modes:

• – we illustrated the reader/writer mode of NFC with a scenario of NFC applied to object borrowing;
• – for P2P mode, we proposed a pairing scenario between two NFC devices;
• – the card emulation mode of the NFC standard was illustrated by the example of a digital wallet with two use cases:
  • - using an SE (i.e. with a service running in the SE),
  • - using HCE mode (i.e. with a service running in the mobile device’s system and a wallet managed in the Cloud).

To conclude, this book provides all of the basics for a good understanding of the development of NFC applications (with Android) and gives its reader full autonomy.

Now is your turn to offer innovative services, thanks to the NFC standard.