The NFC Forum, a global standards-body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology announced that the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) will incorporate the NFC Wireless Charging Specification (WLC) opening up new use cases for NFC technology.

USI integrated NFC wireless charging into its active stylus specification (USI 2.0) giving USI-enabled active styluses the capability to be wirelessly charged with a compatible smartphone or other Near Field Communications (NFC) charging device at a power transfer rate of up to one watt. This will improve the user experience for the almost three billion consumers and businesses using smartphones and the millions using active styluses with tablets, phones, and laptops.

“As the capabilities of NFC technology extend beyond payment, the use of wireless charging for active styluses is an ideal application as it makes it easier for consumers to charge low-power consumer devices by eliminating the cost and inconvenience of plug connectors and cords,” said Mike McCamon, executive director, NFC Forum. “The simplicity and ease of use of wireless charging mean that consumer adoption will be rapid.”

The news follows last year’s launch of the Digital Key use case for the automotive and access control markets which further leverages the ubiquity of NFC technology in mobile phones to simplify consumers' digital lives. The Digital Key and Wireless Charging initiatives comprised the most popular use cases requested from the NFC Forum over the past 18 months indicating strong interest across these two new use cases.

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