Alliance Activities : Publications : Mobile/NFC Standards Landscape

Mobile/NFC Standards Landscape

Mobile NFC applications follow a wide variety of standards and specifications, some that govern the core technology and functionality of mobile NFC devices and some that are specific to applications. The Smart Card Alliance Mobile and NFC Council developed the standards reference guide and accompanying interactive PowerPoint presentation to educate industry stakeholders broadly on the standards, specifications and certification requirements for the NFC ecosystem.

The reference guide and PowerPoint presentation include relevant standards and specifications for core mobile/NFC functionality and services, and outline specifications and standards covering payment, loyalty, access and transit applications. The documents are intended to evolve and be updated with new standards and specifications for mobile NFC applications as they become prominent in the market.

Reference Guide

The Mobile/NFC Standards Landscape Reference Guide lists standards and specifications covering core functions and those applicable to payment, loyalty, access and transit applications. Standards and specifications managed by American Express, Discover, EMVCo, ETSI, GlobalPlatform, GSMA, ISO/IEC, MasterCard, NFC Forum, PCI, SIM Alliance, and Visa are included, as well as specific standards covering transit and access control.

PowerPoint Presentation

The PowerPoint Standards for the NFC Ecosystem presentation presents the mobile/NFC standards in an interactive show. To use this resource, download the presentation file and follow the directions on the second slide to navigate the content. The presentation provides an overview of how the different standards and specifications fit together for implementing core functionality and payments, tags and accessories, identity, loyalty, transit and access applications.

About the Resources

The NFC standards landscape project included broad cross-industry Mobile and NFC Council member participation. Participants involved in the development of this white paper included: Accenture LLP; American Express; Chase Card Services; Collis/UL; CorFire; CPI Card Group; Cubic Transportation Systems, Inc.; Datawatch Systems, Inc.; Discover Financial Services; First Data Corporation; Giesecke & Devrient; Heartland Payment Systems; HID Global; Identification Technology Partners; Identive Group; Infineon Technologies; Ingenico; Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies; INSIDE Secure; Interac Association/Acxsys Corporation; Intercede Ltd.; IQ Devices; Isis; MasterCard Worldwide; NFC Forum; NXP Semiconductors; Quadagno & Associates; SafeNet, Inc.; SecureKey Technologies; TSYS; VeriFone Systems; Visa Inc.; ViVOtech, Wells Fargo.

About the Mobile Council

The Smart Card Alliance Mobile Council was formed to raise awareness and accelerate the adoption of secure payments, loyalty, marketing, promotion/coupons/offers, peer-to-peer, identity, and access control applications using mobile and tethered wearable devices The Council focuses on activities that will help to educate the industry on implementation and security considerations and will act as a bridge between technology development/specification and the applications that can deliver business benefits to industry stakeholders.

The Council takes a broad industry view and brings together industry stakeholders in the different vertical markets that can benefit from secure mobile applications. The Council collaborates on:

  • Educating the market on the technology and the value of secure mobile applications
  • Developing best practices for implementation
  • Working on identifying and overcoming issues inhibiting the industry