Dear Readers,
I am the first to openly admit to being a big fan of Apple products. The company's focus on innovation and design is inspiring. So much so that the whole Contactless Intelligence team had to go 'Mac' way back in 2006. Since then we have added iPhones and iPads to the mix. Great stuff. As mentioned earlier - I am a fan. What irritates me though is the rumour mill that surrounds Apple for new devices: The 'will they, won't they approach' to every suspected new product release.
Which is how the decision came about not to write anything new about NFC and Apple until we had something concrete.Something like an Apple 'higher-up' waving an iPhone on a stage announcing the actual 'Apple wallet' - getting it straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. When Apple announces they have NFC - they will have NFC. After all, the mobile wallet market will be too big to ignore, right? And if/when Apple moves into a market then things tend to change/move within that market - agreed?
Well, I read an account from John Brownlee on Mac Rumours this week (http://bit.ly/JB0U0X) that I thought made a lot of sense and it is based around Apple moving into the mobile wallet market from the next iOS update (scheduled for approx. June this year).
According to Mr. Brownlee, Apple could enable all 4S iPhones to start working as a mobile wallet. Immediately and with no change to the hardware because the chips are already in there. And they are not NFC chips! Here's what Mr Brownlee has to say on the subject:
"There's an excellent argument of Research Farm’s Pablo Saez Gil, who says Apple will eschew adopting NFC because it’s embraced Bluetooth 4.0 and it’s excellent Bluetooth Low-Energy capabilities. Apple has already sold millions of iPhone 4S's that come with Bluetooth 4.0, and Gil argues that it’s a much better fit for mobile payments for Apple than NFC.
Bluetooth Low Energy allows low-consumption chips to act passively in the form of stickers in a similar fashion to NFC tags and devices can automatically and passively connect and transfer information seamlessly. The technology also enables long distance connections between devices of up to 50m. This feature will eventually enable payments on the go, without the need of fixed POS and traditional checkouts.
Why’s Bluetooth Low Energy a better fit for Apple than NFC? take a look at how payment works at your local Apple Store. You walk in, flag down a Genius, you tell him what you want, he swipes your card on his iPhone and you walk right out the door. You don’t wait in line at a register. There’s no till. It’s all done wherever. That’s how Apple believes retail shopping should be done. With NFC, though, it’s all still about the register, the “tap-and-go” till. Worse, those NFC terminals are all controlled by the credit card companies and payment processors, not Apple.
The genius of this plan? It’s already deployed. There’s no need to find room in every iPhone for an extra chip, or wait for other companies to get their act together about NFC and actually get it into stores. Because Apple has been deploying Bluetooth 4.0 equipped devices since mid-2011, all Apple really needs to do to suddenly become a mobile payment company is go on stage at WWDC next month, officially announced iOS 6 and then say:”BAM! iWallet! It’s here… and your iPhone 4S is already capable of it!”
That's an interesting scenario - the idea that NFC might be superseded by a technology that is easily adaptable and already in a variety of phones. It could be the whole Betamax/VHS trade off all over again. In other words, perhaps mobile payments could reach maturity without NFC at all. Now there's a thought...
Until next week.
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
Featured on C-ITV this week
Payments & m-Commerce
Why Apple’s iWallet Won’t Have Anything To Do With NFC http://bit.ly/JB0U0X
Wallet, Wallet Everywhere: Making Sense of the Mobile Payment Wars http://ti.me/JuhrAO
American Express Onboard for Isis Two-City Launch http://bit.ly/JuhoF7
Google Wallet Mobile Payment Portfolio Grows From 2 Phones to 4 http://bit.ly/JuhAnU
Pacific mobile network launches mobile payment service http://bit.ly/JuhMDz
Tunisiana launches Mobiflouss m-payment service http://bit.ly/IVqisf
Banks, telecoms move on new mobile payment system http://bit.ly/IVqhEI
'Young affluent to drive m-commerce' http://bit.ly/IVqurv
Nigerian banks drive electronic payments http://bit.ly/IVqAPV
RBS deploys Clear2Pay’s Open Payment Framework for SEPA in Europe http://bit.ly/IVqxUe
Wallet Services Provides A Glimpse Into MasterCard's Future http://onforb.es/IVqtDW
Mobile payments: Three winning strategies for banks http://bit.ly/IXrxHl
Europe’s Square rival iZettle to ship 3,000 card readers to UK testers, warms up for summer launch http://tnw.co/IXriff
MySingleLink pitches digital wallet http://bit.ly/IXskrG
Albron Selects Equens for 'Quick and Easy Payments' http://prn.to/IXsaAI
Hi-Media, MobilePay form single m-payment platform in Italy http://bit.ly/IXrHP4
iZettle, Europe’s rival to Square, hits the UK http://bit.ly/J1saRp
Payment via BlackBerry coming within months http://bit.ly/J1sa41
Near Field Communications: More Than Mobile Payments (we know!) http://onforb.es/J1smQJ
Apple Rumors Aside, Watch for Samsung M-Commerce; Google Wallet 2.0 http://bit.ly/J1sjnX
Contactless Cards Paving the way for Mobile Payments http://bit.ly/JB0FTp
Eduardo Saverin Backs Mobile Wallet Contender Crowdmob http://tcrn.ch/JB0Rlw
LIRR plans pilot program of payment with smartphones http://bit.ly/JB2xM0
NFC & Mobile
Allphones Arena delivers NFC offers to fans http://bit.ly/JuhkoR
Narian Tools Let Consumers Create NFC Apps http://bit.ly/JuhwEs
NXP Powers NFC in the Samsung GALAXY S III http://bit.ly/IVqmIq
Canadian Telco and Bank Announce Plans for NFC Payment Launch http://bit.ly/IXrJpY
Carrefour uses NFC and QR codes to speed up grocery shopping http://bit.ly/IXrF9C
OTI Receives Order for 30,000 NFC and Contactless Payment
Readers to be Deployed in the U.S. http://on.mktw.net/IXrATF
Embedded and standalone integration in NFC IC development http://bit.ly/J1s4cH
Intel: ‘NFC Not a Passing Fancy;’ Chip Giant Prepares to Push NFC in Phones and Other Devices http://bit.ly/J1sgZs
KDDI unveils world’s first NFC and Felica phone http://bit.ly/J1sfV7
NFC to figure prominently in NTT Docomo summer line-up of 19 new handsets http://bit.ly/JB0K9O
Identive Introduces Cloud-Based NFC Tag Management http://on.mktw.net/JB2rnI
RIM, Motorola told Apple they could find a nano-SIM compromise: here it is http://vrge.co/JB2wYs
Transportation, Ticketing & Loyalty
Mobile bus ticketing service launched in Dar http://bit.ly/JuhUD6
Other News & Opinion Articles
Contactless Payments--Bad News for Consumers? http://onforb.es/JuhYCX
Global Study Identifies Impact of Smartphone Use on Mobile Banking and Payments http://bit.ly/IVqpE4
Ingenico & POS Portal provide ISOs and Merchants with secured & mobile POS Devices http://bit.ly/IVqwj5
PCI Council Releases Tip Sheet for Tablet POS http://bit.ly/J1ro6U
VeriFone Media Brings Sky News into London’s Taxis http://bit.ly/K5PxcG
The 5 Million Dollar Fund – Add Card Scanning to Your App http://bit.ly/JB0J5z
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