If you work in the mobile or retail industry you can't have escaped much of the hype that is surrounding beacons at the moment. These little bundles of power are going to revolutionise the high street, dragging it into the 21st century and saving the community and lives of all those connected with local commerce. It's a wonderful thing! There are however, many challenges and obstacles that need to be addresses, or at least acknowledged, if beacons are to be successful. Additionally, Beacons need to be seen as part of the mix of consumer mobile engagement, rather than the only means...

I had the pleasure of attending, and being invited to one of the panel discussions, at Contactless Intelligence in London yesterday. There were many themes and discussions that took place. One in particular that is close to my heart is that of a truly consistent identity for NFC. Currently NFC can be seen or referred to as :- NFC Contactless S-Beam Tap and Share Techtiles QuickTap Xperia Tags In fact the list I am sure goes on and on but you get the idea. There are also many different visual identities, variants of NFC (see blog image), the wave marks etc. My point...