RIM’s latest wave of BlackBerry handsets will introduce many users to NFC for the very first time. We’ve talked at some length about uses for the technology like authorizing mobile payments, or initiating data transfer between devices. Ultimately, though, those are pretty advanced ways to be using NFC, and you don’t need access to a retailer supporting phone payments, nor another NFC-equipped phone, in order to see what the tech can do. A new app called NFCLauncher lets you use passive NFC tags to help automate some tasks on your phone.

Basically, you set up NFCLauncher so that when your phone is in close proximity to a certain NFC tag, it performs a predefined series of actions. Always forgetting to put your phone on silent in a meeting? A tag in your jacket pocket could automatically remind the phone to go quiet. If use your phone for entertainment when working out, a tag stuck to your treadmill could automatically load up some playlists when you rest your BlackBerry on it.

While it sounds like it could take a while to get everything set up just how you like it, and having predefined actions for each tag limits the flexibility of the tags you deploy, there’s a whole lot of potential here for making your life just a bit easier.