Technique to authenticate in a mobile application using near-field communication

1. A method for operating a communication appliance enabled for Near Field Communication (NFC), comprising:

acquiring by the communication appliance through NFC a unique digital identifier from an article, wherein the communication appliance and the article are associated with a person, the article being enabled for NFC and storing the unique identifier, wherein the unique digital identifier is acquired in response to the communication appliance and the article being positioned within a near-field threshold; and

selecting and initiating a particular functionality of the communication appliance based on the identifier,

wherein the particular functionality is launching an application linking to an Internet-connected first server, and authenticating the person in the application to interact with functionality of the Internet-connected first server requiring authentication, and

wherein a first link is established to the first server via an appliance that is not NFC enabled, and a second link to the first server through the communication appliance that is NFC enabled, based on the NFC-enabled article, and the first server authorizes the person and enables the person to access and manipulate functionality of the first server that requires authentication from the appliance that is not NFC enabled.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication appliance is a mobile device configured for telephony communication.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the article is an NFC-enabled card issued by an enterprise associated with the first server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the appliance that is not NFC enabled is a computer device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the functionality of the first server includes retrieving personal data of the person.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the personal data includes financial account information for the person.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first server authorizes the person and enables the person to access and manipulate functionality from the appliance that is not NFC enabled, in response to establishing the second link.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication appliance is configured to communicate the unique identifier to the first server.

9. A communication system comprising:

an article enabled for Near Field Communication (NFC) and storing a unique identifier associated with a person;

a communication appliance that is NFC enabled, executing software from a non-transitory physical medium;

wherein the communication appliance is configured to acquire the unique identifier based on the article and communication appliance being brought within an NFC threshold distance, wherein the communication appliance is further configured to select and initiate specific functionality based on the acquired unique identifier

wherein the specific functionality is launching an application linking to an Internet-connected first server, and authenticating the person in the application to interact with functionality of the Internet-connected first server requiring authentication, and

wherein a first link is configured to be established to the first server via an appliance that is not NFC enabled, and a second link to the first server through the communication appliance that is NFC enabled, based on the NFC-enabled article, and the first server authorizes the person and enables the person to access and manipulate functionality of the first server that requires authentication from the appliance that is not NFC enabled.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the communication appliance is a mobile device configured for telephony communication, and the article is an NFC-enabled card issued by an enterprise associated with the first server.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the article is an NFC-enabled card issued by an enterprise associated with the first server.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the appliance that is not NFC enabled is a computer device.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the functionality of the first server includes retrieving personal data of the person.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the personal data includes financial account information for the person.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first server authorizes the person and enables the person to access and manipulate functionality from the appliance that is not NFC enabled, in response to establishing the second link.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the communication appliance is configured to communicate the unique identifier to the first server.