Like a couple others have said in this thread, I think this is more about bootstrapping an ecosystem driven by network effects -- the more people adopt it and the sooner, the more useful it becomes and the more likely it is to actually go mainstream.
Flomio isn't just selling this device; look at the higher reward levels -- they're also selling an SDK and cloud analytics infrastructure -- I think they'd be perfectly happy if nobody needed this because it was built in.
One of Australia's largest Banks uses it (http://www.commbank.com.au/mobile/commbank-kaching/)
"Q. What type of battery does the FloJack run on? A. The FloJack runs on a standard 3V lithium cr2023 battery. You can find these at any grocery or convenience store."
Apparently, the dongle isn't powered by the host phone. No details were given on how long the dongle lasts on one battery, but if it's shorter than several months, I don't think this solution will catch on.
This thing looks like a round version of the Square card reader, a dongle that also plugs into an iPhone's headphone jack but doesn't require its own power source. So what gives?
If the headphone jack doesn't provide enough power for the NFC reader, perhaps they should release one that connects to the Dock connector or Lightning connector instead. Which of course does mean they'll have to deal with Apple.
This NFC business requires actually transmitting some sort of radio waves, which requires some actual energy, not just modulation. IIRC the iPhone's audio port can be parasitized for a bit of energy, but it's in the realm of tens of milliwatts peak.
1. Reader centric - where everything revolves around the reader, as in using this reader for NFC payments. You can use passive tags, like stickers, key chains, wristbands etc to scan. Associate data with these tags via the cloud.
2. Tag centric - where everything revolves around the tag & it is a dynamic thing, which also seems possible with this flojack device. I'm less of a fan of this because of the problems you noted above - it's just a hassle to get people activated in this model.
I think the first model satisfies your requirement of only one side needing the dongle to participate.
And then the possibilities opened up by this magical NFC aren't listed for another 2/3's down the page (Launch your favorite iOS Apps, Open URLs, Play YouTube videos).
Ugh, horrible sales pitch. Sell me immediately on the possibilities of NFC upfront.
We are obviously a long way from that. Does this device make this a reality? Will people be buying these, placing them in their pockets like headphones to pull out when needed?
Unlikely, it's true.
However, there's no need to fixate on this. With some imagination, there's a lot that can be one with the humble tag and nfc readers in the field.
Imagine at events or tradeshows, people were given wristbands. These wristbands could have their email, phone number, VIP area access and even drink credits attached. Hell, even their full facebook profile.
Booth holders could have checkin stations, where with a swipe wristbanders could sign up to mailing lists, share contact info, or like a product on facebook. People at concerts could get branded photos taken with "Listening to $FAMOUS_ROCK_BAND's $FAMOUS_SONG"
Even if, there was 400M iOS devices that were going to spontaneously combust the minute iPhone 6 with nfc was released. And even if, this product line only had a useful life of one year, for developers it's still a year's evolution on their NFC app.
It's about empowering apple devs NOW(ish)
That being said, FloJack seems to be inherently depreciated from inception. I hope they reach their goal though.
Best of luck to you guys. I always root for Kickstarter companies. (Note: working on a site that can help you guys pump hype into your project http://www.hypejar.com/FloJack).
