Some of them rely on technology other than NFC, such as offering services that let people pay for purchases by sending text messages or by scanning product bar codes using a phone's QR-code reader.
It features a 256-color high-resolution touch screen and comes with a pre-installed database of codes for 549 different brands and 17 different product categories.
According to comScore, another research company, more than two-thirds of Americans and Europeans who scan QR codes do so in order to obtain information about a product.
Webster says he's seen a number of productivity applications, such as a shopping service that scans bar codes with the phone's camera and supplies comparative pricing, product reviews and local store information.