Apple has officially joined the NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that develops specifications, ensuring interoperability among devices and services, and works to educate the market about NFC technology. Apple is a sponsor member, earning a place on the NFC Forum’s Board of Directors.
AppleInsider notes the seat on the board will be filled by Aon Mujtaba, Apple’s Director of Wireless Systems Engineering. He has been credited with multiple wireless related patents that are owned by Apple.
“The top tier of NFC Forum membership, sponsor membership, entitles an organization to a seat on the NFC Forum board of directors, the association’s governing body,” NFC Forum director Paula Hunter said in a statement to NFC World. “We are delighted to welcome Apple to our board of directors as an NFC Forum sponsor member.”
Other companies who have seats on the board include Broadcom, Google, Intel, MasterCard, Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony, STMicroelectronics, and Visa.
Apple had long avoided including NFC technology in its devices until the release of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch. The NFC capabilities of all three devices is currently used only with Apple Pay, Apple’s touchless payments system.
