It can
certainly be used by more phones than iBeacons can. Most Android phones have RFID built in, no iPhone does.
NFC
is RFID. NFC defines the communications protocol, RFID is the physical layer. RFID is most definitely capable of full duplex transmission (i.e. transmit & receive).
RFID & NFC are not exactly the same thing. Supposedly NFC is a subset of RFID. While I'm not that familiar with RFID, what I've been reading it only acts as a transmitter, not as a receiver.
Now perhaps just recently has been new technology to the RFID standard that allows it to do this. But considering RFID was designed primarily for tracking inventory not sure if receiving data would be beneficial in that regard.
NFC also primarily works on one frequency where RFID can use multiple frequencies depending on the tag, which also brings up the question if some RFID frequencies that can't be read by NFC.
It might also be possible for a device sending out a signal to an RFID device, by which the RFID tag might signal back with a pre-recorded response. But I'm skeptical if it would give back any sort of intelligent response based on what the user may want. Essentially it would just transmit the same message it was encoded with.
I'm not an expert in RFID tech, but why would you need to take each item? if the purpose of the RFID is to provide location services much like iBeacon (so a consumer could be guided to a section within a store that sells the shoes he/she wants to buy), couldn't the store just place a few RFIDs on the shelves?
Or in the case of the Bar Kick, they could just place a few RFIDs throughout their establishment to "activate" the subscription to those magazines.
Not really an expert either but remember both technologies were originally designed for different applications. RFID for tracking inventory, iBeacon for location of the shoppers position and offering coupons & sales information and numerous other uses not yet identified. So still a lot of questions need to be answered how possible and effective it will be in modifying RFID for this purpose.
It can certainly be used by more phones than iBeacons can. Most Android phones have RFID built in, no iPhone does.
How can there be more Android phones using NFC, when both Android & iPhone can both use LE BlueTooth? iPhone has never used NFC up to now and may never use it. Support for LE Bluetooth has started to be used in Android phones now. Not widely adopted I think, but will expand in the phones and support in Android.
