Hackers will have fun building Adobe AIR apps for mobile devices that incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) sensors, now that AIR version 3.0 enables software access to hardware data including vibration control, magnetometers, light sensors and NFC.
The API is likely to lead to some really fun capabilities. Imagine all the accessibility and beauty of Adobe AIR, combined with the real-world location and frictionless data transfer capabilities of NFC. Hot.
ReadWriteWeb has written extensively about NFC and its future, including the possibility that it might appear in the iPhone 5. Presumably if it does, Apple will offer a hardware API for it as well.
Android devices have NFC APIs, but presumably such capabilities baked into AIR would enable a new level of ease and power for developers seeking to build apps that let users swipe their phones over tags to register their locations, perform transactions and take other actions still yet to be determined.
The other side of the story is that NFC may never catch on widely and Adobe AIR is not loved by all, either. Nothing is perfect though and this might be pretty good.
