NFC Ring goes up for pre-order after successful Olympics run

Anyone following electronics manufacturing in China knows that NFC rings are nothing new. For a product to take off, however, it usually takes the right amount of support and brand awareness. That is why a company simply called NFC Ring partnered with Visa this year to allow Olympic athletes to use their rings to pay for products at Olympic Village. With the Olympics now over, the company has finally made its rings available for pre-order to anyone who wants one. Prices on different models range from about $20 to $45.

Visa was a sponsor of the Olympics in Rio, making it the only accepted credit card at the Village. Partnering with Visa this way made the wearable known as Visa's NFC ring, but the product uses a security chip from Infineon to adhere to EMVCo contactless payment standards. This also makes it compatible with American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard and UnionPay, according to Infineon, although NFC Ring only mentioned Visa and MasterCard as partners on its Kickstarter in 2015.

While the Visa partnership was a good way to get noticed, some may wonder why anyone would want such a ring in the age of the Apple Watch. This ring actually has many advantages over smart watches that have NFC chips beyond the obvious fact that the NFC Ring is much less expensive. According to Engadget, at least one athlete wanted a contactless payment device that "could just integrate into his daily routine." This means something a person can put on and never worry about charging it or taking it off when going for a swim or taking a shower. The NFC Ring fit this perfectly. It does not require a battery and instead draws power from a payment terminal when needs to transfer data. It is also water-resistant up to 50m.

The NFC Ring cannot transfer as much data as AndroidPay and Apple Pay, which are used on devices with dedicated power sources. However, for quick transfers of basic data such as Visa payment information, it gets the job done. This is not just limited to payments, either. NFC Ring's Kickstarter campaign shows the company anticipates its product being used in manydifferent ways, including unlocking doors and smartphones and sharing other bits of data such as contact details. The platform is open source, so developers are free to build on what the ring can already do.

On the face of it, NFC Ring is not giving out anything China makers have not been offering for quite a while. However, the company had the forethought to partner with payment companies and encourage developers to invent new uses for its hardware. This will ensure that the ring works as it is meant to. In the early days of NFC payments, the technology could be a hit or a miss depending on the terminal and retailer support. NFC Ring no doubt wants to avoid these kinds of headaches, and that is the key to a successful product.