Touch-tagging
With many entities such as banks, mobile operators, transport companies and merchants adopting Near Field Communication (NFC), Poken is the latest to join the non-profit NFC forum.
If the name doesn't ring a bell yet, Poken is a global start-up headquartered in Switzerland. Stephane Doutriaux came up with the idea for Poken, a USB stick fashion accessory for exchanging contact information, while being a student at the Swiss business school IMD.
Poken SA has tied up with NXP Semiconductors to marry NFC and social networking. At WIMA 2011, Poken is launching the first end-to-end NFC compliant platform for social networking. The two companies will jointly showcase the first prototype of a low-power, full-featured NFC product, which will combine Poken's ultra low-power 32-bit microprocessor and an NXP NFC core.
Poken's web interface will collect NFC tags of profiles of people and objects with an NXP reader as well as a phone. Poken says that the platform also makes sharing easy, "as it lets users share with friends what they collected, add comments, and spread special deals- all with just a touch."
Hoping it "will enhance the user experience, and make it fun and cool," Stéphane Doutriaux, Founder and CEO, Poken said "I believe that this will accelerate the integration of the smart card and NFC worlds within social media, allowing for clever new features. I'm thrilled by this opportunity to power existing NFC/Contactless services with our social capabilities."
As social networking has changed how people communicate with each other, Henri Ardevol, vice president and general manager, NXP Semiconductors added that the "collaboration with Poken on NFC opens not only a bridge between the virtual and physical worlds, and also enables new application fields such as retail for example through intuitive sharing of offers with your friends."
