It was all the way back in February when RIM first promised that “many, if not most” BlackBerry handsets in 2011 will feature NFC technology. It proved true with both the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, along with the BlackBerry Curve 9350/9360/9370, and we should see plenty more where that came from. That said, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie had one more trick up his sleeve at this week’s GITEX conference in Dubai, unveiling for the first time BlackBerry Tag.
BlackBerry Tag will come as part of the next BlackBerry 7 update. The idea is that you can share photos, documents, URLs, and contact information by just tapping your BlackBerry devices together — not unlike the Bump application on iOS and Android. The only difference is that the Bump app employed Bluetooth connectivity while BlackBerry Tag uses NFC technology.
Instead of scanning codes, BBM users will now be able to make connections by simply tapping the devices against each other, which will automatically swap BBM contact info. Even better, developers will have access to the BlackBerry Tag API, meaning they can bake the Tag functionality into their own apps.
It’s been a trying year for RIM. But perhaps this, along with other new software offerings, will get RIM back on track.