The global total is expected to be near 300 million in three years time, with North America accounting for half of all NFC smartphones closely followed by western Europe.
NFC payments and retail marketing through coupons and smart posters are expected to become more common among smartphone users in western Europe, North America and other developed regions, due to the increasing integration of NFC chipsets with handsets.
“Although there are still hurdles ahead, NFC prospects have been boosted by the succession of mobile operator and device vendor announcements,” said Howard Wilcox, analyst with Juniper research and author of the report.
“France is a case in point where operators expect to sell one million NFC devices this year.”
