Nokia has just announced its newest handset to support one of our favorite still-emerging technologies, Near Field Communications (NFC). Dubbed the 6216 classic, Nokia’s third NFC-enabled phone does throw a bit of a curveball in that it is Nokia’s first to allow operators to build NFC services into the SIM card. NFC technology allows devices to transfer data between each other merely by tapping them together. Image files, video files, contacts, music and more can all be delivered wirelessly using NFC technology but the key functionality being eyed by the industry is NFC-facilitated secure payments. The 6216 classic is certainly a step forward in this realm, as Nokia’s head of near field communications Jeremy Belostock tells us:
The Nokia 6216 classic will be amongst the first commercial devices in the market complying with operator requirements using the SIM card in connection to secure transactions with Near Field Communications. With the Nokia 6216 classic in your pocket and the ticketing applications on the SIM you can replace the multitude of cards in your wallet. Having the applications on the SIM consumers can bring their secure applications to their next Nokia NFC enabled phone.
Beyond NFC, you’re looking at a pretty basic S40 handset: Quad-band GSM, dual-band 3G (850/2100 MHz), 2-inch QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, microSDHC support, Bluetooth and 22MB of user-accessible memory pretty much say it all. The 6216 classic is slated to begin shipping in the third quarter and will retail for €150 ($196) before subsidies but don’t expect to see it stateside any time soon.
