NFC chip implants: First Apple, now this guy

Dangerous Things

It’s hard to steal Apple’s thunder on anything these days, but a self-professed “body modification” enthusiast might have done just that: He’s had an NFC chip implanted in his hand.

Apple’s near field communications (NFC) chip in its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones pales by comparison, no? Those phone chips lay the groundwork for the new Apple Pay mobile payments technology made available with the arrival of iOS 8.1 this week.

(NFC is a wireless communications technology that operates in the 13.56Mhz frequency and can support two-way interactions.)

ALSO: Why chip-enabled bank cards won’t stop theft| 6 Cool Uses of NFC

Robert J. Nelson isn’t the first guy to have a chip implanted, but the timing of his story is interesting in light of the Apple NFC news. Nelson shares his tale on the mobile devices website Connectedly, and sorry Apple, but he’s using the chip implanted between his left thumb and forefinger to secure his Moto X Android phone. Google and others have been supporting NFC in their technologies for years now.

Nelson says he paid $99 for a chipset from the Dangerous Things biohacking gadgets website. The implantation was simple and pretty painless, despite the big needle, once he found someone to do it. His post on Connectedly includes lots of juicy photos.

Some might question whether having a chip implanted enhances or invades your privacy. John Halamka, a noted healthcare CIO in the Boston area who had an RFID chip containing his medical records implanted in his right shoulder 10 years ago, wrote several years later that he wasn’t necessarily an advocate for such implants, other than for those who might really benefit from having medical records on them at all times (say Alzheimer patients).

To simplify things, you might consider going with NFC-enabled gloves for starters.