Boardwalk to Launch R&D for Near Field Communication Applications

Boardwalk, a provider of ticket sales for events including music, sports, movies and theater, announced it will begin Near Field Communication (NFC) research and development of ticket-related applications.

Boardwalk provides ticket board, a mobile ticketing service, as a new ticket service for the entertainment business. The implementation of NFC, a global standard for short distance wireless communication prescribed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO), will improve usability of ticket board service overseas.

By adopting this international NFC standard, it is possible to implement mobile payment services within global reach. Ticket board utilizes the Osaifu-Keitai feature that turns the mobile phone into a paperless ticket, and QR code for users who don't have the Osaifu -Keitai-enabled phone.

NFC allows multi-faceted services compatible with the FeliCa, a contactless IC card technology widely used in Japan. Following introduction of the service in Japan, Boardwalk believes that NFC compatibility is necessary for future core technology of ticket board in order to implement mobile ticketing service in overseas, according to a press statement.

Moreover, with this research and development, Boardwalk will be able to receive specific support from its investor, NTT (News - Alert) DOCOMO including specification formulation support for ticketing compatible with NFC; development support for NFC device applications; development support for NFC server applications; global PR/advertisement cooperation; global sales cooperation and introduction of partner companies for effective implementation.

Recently, ABI Research (News - Alert) announced that NFC-based mobile wallet users will grow to 594 million in 2016. The growth will be because MNOs and OS players will flood the marketplace with NFC-capable mobile phones, particularly in the U.S., Western Europe, Japan and Korea, and the business cases around merchant offers and interaction are compelling enough to pull mobile wallet ecosystem players in alignment.