BlackBerry Tag enables effortless ‘tap to share’ exchanges of multimedia content and contact info between friends

Friends can also add each other as BBM contacts with a simple ‘tap’

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES–(Marketwire – Oct. 10, 2011) – GITEX – During his keynote presentation at the GITEX conference in Dubai, Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) Co-CEO Jim Balsillie today unveiled a new way for BlackBerry® smartphone users to connect with one another and share multimedia content.

BlackBerry® Tag, which will be incorporated in the next BlackBerry® 7 OS update*, will allow users to share contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content by simply tapping their BlackBerry smartphones together. BlackBerry Tag will also enable friends to instantly add one another as contacts on BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger).

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been anxious to take advantage of NFC on my BlackBerry Bold 9930.  There really is no use yet for NFC, unless you have a Google Nexus S which supports Google Wallet.  Now for the good news, MasterCard posted up on their site that the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is NFC approved for the Mobile MasterCard.  The approval process for the device includes functional reliability, interoperability, and security.  Thankfully the Bold 9900 series meets the standards!  So hopefully we’ll be seeing an application launch soon enough for the Bold as the approval has just taken place.  Still no Curve 9360 on the list yet, but hopefully that will go into consideration soon as well since the device has launched (and still is launching) all over the world.  Read more on the NFC approval here.

Source: NerdBerry

Google Wallet just officially took off, which is an application that works around NFC (near field communication).  So basically it allows you to store your credit/debit cards onto your Google Wallet application, enabling you to make wireless payments in store by swiping your handheld.  It looks like Google has support for the Nexus S, but we’d love to see it get extended to the BlackBerry as well.

But I wouldn’t get my hopes up.  We still don’t have a Google Plus app, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan for it anytime in the near future.  I guess we really want NFC apps in general but Google Wallet would be an excellent start if you ask me.

New NFC-Enabled BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve Will Be First Smartphones with iCLASS Functionality for Digital Keys and Identification for Secure Access to Buildings, Offices and Networks

IRVINE, Calif., – HID Global, trusted leader in solutions for the delivery of secure identity, today announced an industry first with plans to support the company’s iCLASS® digital keys and mobile secure identity on NFC-enabled BlackBerry® smartphones. The new BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900/9930 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350/9360 smartphones activated with iCLASS digital credentials will be compatible with the large installed base of iCLASS readers that are used for applications ranging from physical access systems in buildings, to student IDs, to applications that track time and attendance.

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For months we’ve been excited to see an NFC enabled BlackBerry launch officially, but there really hasn’t been a huge need for the technology as it’s still too early.  Some BlackBerry Bold 9900 units come without NFC.  From AT&T, we learned that they are keeping the chip inside, but will have a software lock on it.  Perhaps we’ll see them do “thorough testing” like they did with Bridge for the BlackBerry PlayBook.  Any way, this is what RIM has to say about NFC:

“RIM believes that NFC is an exciting technology that will enable many new capabilities, and we are aligning with our partners in supporting the overall NFC ecosystem by investing in NFC in our products. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 series are the first to be NFC ready and we are working closely with carrier partners on their roll out plans for NFC.”

Kind of generic, but basically it’s carriers not wanting to get in on NFC just yet.  If it bothers you so much, you can pick up an international model with it built it.  But I’m sure many won’t care since NFC is too new to be essential in any life techie aspects.

Source: IntoMobile

Based on an image of what looks to be the Manage Connections screen on a BlackBerry Curve 9360, there’s a mobile hotspot option as well as NFC at the top which is just a checkbox along with Bluetooth, WiFi and Mobile Network.  It concerns us with what’s going to be of the other devices including the Torch 9810 and 9850/9860.  We already know there’s no NFC included, and mobile hotspot seems to be unknown with no word on them whatsoever.  If the feature was there and available, I feel like RIM would celebrate and promote it a lot more than just keep it undercover.

Now we have the Curve 9360 equipped with it as seen in the photo, but that may all disappear by launch.

Source: IntoMobile

Here’s something we all seemed to look right past.  RIM has announced a few new devices this morning, but has left out NFC capability.  Ronen from BerryReview went back into the FCC listings to see what was of NFC in these new BlackBerry 7 OS devices and it looks like only the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 are equipped with NFC for “accessory pairing and smart tag reading/writing.”

I seriously don’t understand why RIM would leave these other great devices out of the loop when it comes to NFC technology.  If you had any BlackBerry device in mind other than the Bold 9900 series, this information might change your mind and make you lean more towards it.

It’s a good time for stores and restaurants to start picking up contactless payments (we call it NFC), especially with mobile devices such as BlackBerry supporting it in the near future.  McDonald’s Canada has rolled out MasterCard PayPass which allows you to make transactions by bringing your wallet with the card inside close to the scanner or mobile phone that’s supported.  Given that BlackBerrys aren’t equipped with NFC technology yet, we won’t be able to enjoy it for now.  Hit the jump for the full press release from McDonald’s and MasterCard.

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It’s no surprise that banks and credit card companies are adding NFC (near field communication) to their services as smartphones are starting to get equipped with the built-in chips to support them.  Visa announced they are launching Digital Wallet in Canada sometime during the fall this year.  We’ve already seen Bank of America testing out NFC for BlackBerry at the moment, so we expect them to make their big debut with that sometime soon.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 is the first BlackBerry to support NFC.  The device is expected to launch this summer, so hopefully we’ll see quite a few banks and credit card companies push out NFC services.  Most likely we’ll see Digital Wallet come to BlackBerry, but no announcement on devices have been made yet.

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We haven’t seen much ion NFC for BlackBerry lately, or at all actually.  This isn’t much, but it clears some thoughts on what those blacked out icons were on the Touch Monaco/Monza.  There’s really no word out as to what RIM has planned for NFC for the future, but we do know it’s coming as they recently announced.  Here’s some leaked screenshots of Smart Tags for BlackBerry which is an image sharing application which allows you to add tags to those images.  It doesn’t seem huge or that exciting but it’s a start for now.  More images after the jump.

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