Early last year we saw a patent that indicated that NFC (near field communication) was heading to the iPhone 4. This of course didn’t happen which then led to speculation that the iPhone 5 might be the device which sees NFC implanted inside it.
Bloomberg is reporting today that Apple appears likely to add NFC to the iPhone 5 and the iPad 2 making them into mobile payment systems.
The main goal for Apple would be to get a piece of the $6.2 trillion Americans spend each year on goods and services, Crone said. Today, the company pays credit-card processing fees on every purchase from iTunes. By encouraging consumers to use cheaper methods — such as tapping their bank accounts directly, which is how many purchases are made via PayPal — Apple could cut its own costs and those of retailers selling Apple products.
What NFC does is allows the owner of the NFC enabled device use it as a debit card. Card information is stored within the device (iPhone 5, iPad 2) and when a contact point is tapped the payment is debited from the users account. When we say the user needs to tap, the system does work at a distance of about 4 inches.
If Apple does choose this route, which it probably will in the next gen iPhone and iPad, then it could require a revamp to the iTunes service allowing users to store NFC details on their accounts as well as collect loyalty points on purchases. With the size of Apple’s userbase, the company could easily push NFC mainstream.
Via: 9to5Mac
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