No more lockouts: ASU students use phones as keys

Wall Street Journal writer Tom Loftus reports on the new smartphone trend: the digital door key. Loftus focused on ASU's pilot program that provided students with smartphones rather than smartcards to enter their residence hall.   

"To open door locks, the students hold their phones to a newly installed door reader. In addition, some students were provided with a unique digital key and PIN to open individual room door, " writes Loftus in the WSJ Blog "Digits" that reports technology news.

"The ASU experiment represents the latest attempt to further near-field communication, the technology that allows for data exchange between two devices in close proximity. Tech giants like Google and Apple as well as banks and credit card services are all involved in pushing the technology. Some smartphones now come embedded with NFC chips."

"ASU’s Laura Plough, the director of business applications who led campus efforts on the program, told Digits that students are responding favorably."