Moo adds ‘third side’ to business cards with embedded NFC chips

Online printer Moo has just started trialing a new kind of business card that 'links to your digital world' by way of an embedded NFC chip. Any takers?

Online printing company Moo.com has come up with an idea to jazz up its business cards by adding what it calls a “third side” in the form of a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip.

The card looks like a regular business card except that embedded inside is a programmable NFC chip, capable of transmitting data to an NFC-ready handset when the two are tapped together.

As Moo explains on its website, the user can program the chip to “download your portfolio, play music or video, load web pages, maps or apps, save your contact details – the possibilities are endless. Think of it like an enormous, dynamic and exciting third side [to your business card].”

A special app allows the user to update what action the NFC chip initiates when someone taps their smartphone against it.

The award-winning London-based startup said it began trialing the new cards this week, sending out a single NFC-enabled card to anyone ordering a pack of business cards. The company will listen to feedback from users of the 150,000 cards before deciding whether to make them a permanent fixture.

The company admits on its blog that it’s early days for its new type of card, going so far as to ask customers for suggestions on how they’d like to use it.

“We’re dabbling with the technology and whilst we think we have the actual technology pretty well understood, we’re sure there are plenty of exciting and creative things that you can actually DO with them that we haven’t thought of,” the company said in the post. “So, if you have any burning bright ideas, whether prosaic or “out-there” about what you’d like to do with a pack of NFC Business Cards, please do let us know.”

Of course, the NFC element of the card is only any good for recipients with an NFC-ready handset. While some had been hoping for the technology to be included in the iPhone 5, Apple decided to pass on it this time around, so that’s iPhone owners out for a start. There are plenty of non-iOS handsets, however, with the technology.

To find out more about Moo’s new kind of card, check out the video below.

NFC Business Cards from MOO from MOO.COM on Vimeo.