Giesecke & Devrient, the world's second largest producer of smartcards, and Nokia have announced an agreement with intent to form a joint venture.
Giesecke & Devrient will own 57% and Nokia 43% of the new company. The joint venture will provide services using near field communication (NFC) technology by enabling consumer applications, such as credit cards or transport tickets, to be securely and easily downloaded over-the-air to NFC enabled mobile devices.
Over-the-air management of the consumer applications is a critical part for the emerging NFC ecosystem, the firms say, and the joint venture will work closely together with other stakeholders when bringing these services to the market.
The JV is expected to be launched in Q4 2006.