abits per second. The device had a built-in antenna and could be embedded on a sheet of paper or any suitably friendly surface. Suggested consumer applications included adding a memory chip to photographs or postcards or books to provide an audio (voice or music) or imaging (still and video imaging) or extended text download capability (microdot applications). As such, it could be described as an 'information storage and delivery device'. The public announcement of the device created substantial interest. In the middle 'grain of sand' category we have the various 'mote devices', also sometimes described as 'smart dust devices' with their genesis in US projects aimed at realising an autonomous sensing computing and communication system within a cubic millimetre (a 'mote'), though present devices are significantly larger. The idea of these devices is that they can be scattered across an area and form a self- organising network of interconnected interactive objects that are either battery powered, solar powered or vibration powered. Their purpose is primarily to capture information on the physical world, for example temperature, ambient light, vibration, acceleration and air pressure - they are information-collection devices. However, the question we are trying to answer is whether we want or need cellular phones to be able to talk to these microdevices? If we do, what are the technology, engineering and business challenges and opportunities? Why did the MU chip and Memory Spot fail to make market headway and do they have contemporary equivalents? 19.2 Contactless Smart Cards at 13.56 MHz - A Technology, Engineering and Business Model? A starting point is to look at a (larger) device that we already talk to, the contactless smart card, and see what lessons we might learn. Contactless smart cards are similar to the Memory Spot in that they are typically close-coupled applications in which the two devices (the reader and the smart card) are either touching or within a few millimetres of each other. This is 'near-field