Microsoft: Windows Phone 7.5 does not support NFC, coming next year

By Tom Warren, on 12th Dec 11 1:44 pm with 15 Comments

NFC support for next-generation Windows Phones

Microsoft was forced on Monday to correct a previous statement it made on NFC support in Windows Phone 7.5.

The software giant mistakenly revealed the existence of NFC support in an interview with British tech blog TechRadar last week. Will Coleman, developer evangelist and product manager at Microsoft UK, told TechRadar that it’s up to device manufacturers to enable the support in Windows Phone. “As far as I’m aware, NFC is supported by [Windows Phone], but needs to be enabled by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer),” said Coleman. “So, if any OEM wants to enable it, that can be done by all means.” Coleman’s statement was incorrect according to a Microsoft spokesperson. “Microsoft would like to correct a previous statement it made around Near Field Communications,” said a company spokesperson to WinRumors on Monday. “While NFC is not currently supported on Windows Phone 7.5, it is coming. We expect NFC-enabled Windows Phone devices to ship within the next year.”

Microsoft has previously promised support for NFC and more hardware choices with Windows Phone in 2012. Microsoft’s Windows Phone chief Andy Lees, revealed the company’s plans to support NFC earlier this year. Near field communication (NFC) technologies are commonly used for quick payments at retailers. Google has its own wallet system that uses NFC chips on Android devices to pay for goods at retailers across the United States. Microsoft currently holds 14 NFC related patents, according to the U.S. Patent Office. The software maker is rumored to be preparing a “beaming” file transfer feature for Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox. The feature could be part of Microsoft’s NFC plans.

  • http://twitter.com/mattweihl Matthew Weihl

    “While NFC is not currently supported on Windows 7.5, it is coming.”

    I really hope Tom forgot to type in “Phone”. If that’s the exact statement from the spokesperson, it’s sad that not even Microsoft can get their branding right.

    • http://techin5.com Jubbin Grewal @Techin5.com

      Tough world out there.

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      That was the exact statement, I’ve just corrected it though as they sent through a correction. Thanks.

    • http://twitter.com/mattweihl Matthew Weihl

      Oh good.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001395218690 Pantou Ekang

      Desaster 

  • Anonymous

    NFC is like the Wii, everybody wants it, nobody uses it after they get it.

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      True. I think once others enter the market (Apple) then it will become popular. It just takes everyone to have it on their platform and for retailers to support it for that to change.

    • http://twitter.com/alexh2o Alex H

      The day you can use NFC instead of an Oyster smartcard in London is the day it will take off in the UK I reckon!

      (Replace Oyster with the equivalent for your country and it’ll be the same story)

    • http://neil.nuttall.id.au Neil Nuttall

      As a reader from Melbourne Australia you need to know how funny your statement is to me.
      After only being live for around a year and being delivered years later and $billions over budget, Melbourne’s smart card ticketing (Myki) still doesn’t work properly. I imagine they’ll get most of the bugs worked out by 2016 by which time they might let people use NFC enabled smartphones by about 2025

    • Guest

      Particular in Asia, paying with your phone is commonplace. That will eventually spread. It’s a no brainer.

  • Anonymous

    Will Coleman, you are fired >:}

    • Philly

      He was probably confused with the current shipped version and their development version which probably already has it =) so nothing to blame

    • Guest

      It’s still embarrassing for the company. This isn’t rocket science. A developer evangelist is meant to know what’s part of the current product and what isn’t.

  • Ss
  • Anonymous

    We already knew that NFC is coming in Windows Phone 8.