Why has MediaTek stepped into NFC (near field communication) technology? Digitimes Research thinks that there are two main motivations, one to increase the exclusiveness of its platforms and the other is to hike the added value of the main components of its turn-key solutions.
Being its proprietary technology, MediaTek is willing to license Hotknot to other chip developers, but the latter may not be interested. As touch chips have been a main part of MediaTek's turn-key solutions, MediaTek hopes Hotknot can enhance the competitiveness of its turn-key ecosystem through adding features that are difficult to replicate.
According to Digitimes Research, Hotknot is completely incompatible with existing NFC standards and therefore is unable to replace NFC-enabled applications or devices. In addition, Hotknot is practically applicable to smartphones and tablets only. However, the application of Hotknot for smartphones and tablets is enough for MediaTek. Adoption of Hotknot from main clients could help MediaTek and themselves differentiate their products to avoid price wars.