NFC pairing coming to BlackBerry Messenger

RIM is looking at using near field communication (NFC), the en vogue technology for smartphones, to help users add new BlackBerry Messenger friends.

Speaking at the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 9360, which features NFC technology, RIM's VP for product for EMEA Rob Orr told TechRadar there was a 'good possibility' that NFC would be used for BBM connections in the future:

"When you think about what NFC can offer, it's things like bringing accessories together – a simple tap to pair, a simple tap to connect on BBM; a number of really simple use cases where if we can perfect the technology, it becomes less prominent and we start talking about easy it is to connect to BBM or pair accessories."

No reason why not

"When you think about it the early use cases [for NFC] are pairing accessories, so there's no reason why you can't use it pair connectivity in applications.

"It's all about making things simple; what we did with the original BBM was use barcode and camera technology for simpler connections – if we can leverage the inbuilt capabilities of the device to make the use case more simple, then we'll do it, absolutely."

RIM is one of the bigger adopters of NFC with the BlackBerry Bold 9900 also packing the technology – and using it to control BBM connections would be a really smart use of the platform, as it certainly beats having to enter a really long PIN code instead.