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French handset maker Sagem Wireless plans to introduce an NFC phone targeted at the older generations, in what NFC vendor Inside Contactless said would be the first commercial use of its technology.

The “Cosyphone,” displayed by Sagem at the Mobile World Congress Feb. 15-18, would enable users to avoid scrolling through menus to make calls, send text messages or access weather, traffic and other data services. They would simply have to tap the phone on smart posters or other surfaces embedded with tags.

The phone, planned for commercial sale through mobile operators starting in the third quarter, would also be able to perform NFC’s other modes, it is assumed, including enabling users to tap the phone as they would a contactless bank or transit cards.

Inside said the phone contains its MicroRead NFC chip, Wave-Me phone software that assists in the tag reading and its Open NFC protocol stack.

Inside provided the NFC chips for Sagem’s my700X handset, used in a number of NFC trials that called for putting secure applications on the SIM. That handset, however, was not commercially available.

The Cosyphone would also support NFC applications on the SIM.

Though the commercial availability of the Cosyphone is a milestone for Inside, Sagem is not a large handset maker. The much-anticipated S5230 NFC touch-screen phone from Samsung Electronics will not use Inside’s chip.