Nokia announces NFC Hub for Malaysia

During the preview of Nokia 600, 700 and 701, Nokia has also announced NFC Hub for Malaysia. By now, most people are aware of NFC but what’s the use if there’s nothing tap on? In recent months, we’ve seen couple of NFC devices launched in Malaysia like the Nexus S but usability of it are often limited to the demo booths. The only real life usage we’ve seen so far is Maxis FastTap which integrates TouchnGo and Visa Wave on a Nokia 6212 classic.

This is where NFC Hub aims to change all that. It offers people to get onboard the NFC wagon with a range of tagging solutions in the most simplest way possible. Reaffirming that we are an important market, Malaysia is the second in the world to launch it.

So what does NFC Hub offer? As social networking is the next big thing, NFC Hub gives you the necessary tools to increase Facebook fans, check-in via Foursquare or increase twitter followers all via NFC. It is also possible to create custom text messages or direct to phone calls for immediate action. Need to raise funds for charity? NFC allows donation with a single tap which automatically sends a shortcode to a number for SMS donation. For personal use, you can use it to promote your blog, facebook profile or even link to maps on invitation cards.

To get started, the NFC Hub offers a variety of NFC enabled posters, cards and stickers that are ready to be purchased and customised to your need. Price starts from RM10 for a small tag (42mm x 42m) to RM100 for a big A3 poster. There’s also customisable business cards and stickers with embedded vcard info.

In terms of supported devices, they have listed models such as Nokia C7 (with Anna OS), Nokia N9, Nokia Oro and the upcoming Nokia 600, 700 & 701 as well. Nokia is also extending NFC hub support to non-nokia devices such as Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sagem and BlackBerry which has NFC enabled features.

Nokia’s effort in promoting NFC in Malaysia is commended and the potential is huge especially for business owners. This also comes timely as it initially announced that all of their smart phones will be NFC ready by 2011. With the NFC Hub together with NFC devices in place, it all depends on us Malaysians to take it up and make full use of it.

For more information, head over to NFC Hub. All NFC promotional material can be purchased online and payable by paypal.

Head after the break for demo videos of NFC Hub in action