“Speaking on panel about mobile payments during Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, some of the players in that market denounced near field communication — the technology that some have heralded as the driver of the cashless revolution. EBay, which owns PayPal, has already famously shunned the technology, which allows mobile phones to make transactions by tapping on them,” Richard Nieva reports for Fortune. “(At a Fortune event earlier this year, CEO John Donahoe said NFC stands for ‘not for commerce.’)”
“While panelists acknowledged the role that the buzzy technology would have, none thought it would be a cornerstone for the market. ‘It’s part of the solution,’ said Ron Hirson, co-founder and president of Boku, a payment company that deals directly with carriers. ‘It’s not a global standard for payments,'” Nieva reports. “Still, faith in NFC has gotten a boast recently, with rumors that Apple’s next iPhone will include that technology. Hirson conceded that if the tech giant gets into the game — which he thinks won’t be for years — all of the players have a fierce competitor. ‘Apple is notorious for waiting to do something, then doing it right.'”
Nieva reports, “But in the meantime, companies like Square continue to tackle the market for small merchants. They just got a little more competition. The financial technology company NCR — currently most well-known for manufacturing ATMs — today launched NCR Silver, which turns an iPad into a point-of-sales device.”
Read more in the full article here.
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The death of cash; paying by iPhone about to become a way of life – July 9, 2012
Don’t overlook Apple’s new Passbook or you might miss the future of payments – June 12, 2012
Apple granted U.S. patent for all-new iWallet credit system architecture – June 5, 2012
Inside Apple’s secret plan to kill the cash register – May 19, 2012
Apple’s iWallet: The one that will rule the world – March 21, 2012
Apple’s new iWallet patent hints at new killer app – March 9, 2012
Apple wins major U.S. ‘iWallet’ patent; the one that may one day ‘rule the world’ – March 6, 2012
Apple invents ingenious security system for the iWallet era – January 9, 2012
Apple patent app describes future iOS devices communicating with parking meters, doors, cash registers and much more – September 22, 2011
Pass on NFC. My opinion it’s another way for advertisers to data mine my life. Swiping my card takes 5 seconds.
As if swiping your card (or just typing in the number online) isn’t a transfer of your data that can be mined.
Please, for a change, read about what you’re talking about and actually know the facts of the matter. There is no equivalence here at all. As ever, your DUH Factor is astronomical. Sheesh.
2010, for once, I have to agree with you.
I don’t think Apple will bother with NFC when they can just use Bluetooth 4.0 and bypass this with a more full featured experience.
Exactly! A little add on to any cash register, which usually are located near the door anyway. Simply walk out with your purchases and as you walk past the register, your payment is made. No lines.
I want my credit cards to be able to make phone calls. Like Andy Warhol said. “In the future, no one can hear you scream when a dumb idea surfaces.”
I am paraphrasing , of course.
I want to direct-deposit my paycheck into my iTunes account and draw from it to pay for everything.
A couple of years ago at DEFCON, folk were reading RFID data of passing con-goers from up to 90 feet away! That tech is supposed to be limited to around 3 feet. That’s just what they would admit to. I don’t want my data to be pre- wrapped for sniffing out of my pocket. I’ll stick with the swipe.
Whether you want it or not, whether we are ready for it or not, NFC is coming to the iPhone… and soon.
The technology was ready over a year ago, and almost made it to the iPhone 4s, but with the advent of Passbook on iOS6, NFC on the next iPhone is a fait accompi.
And when Apple leads, all technology follows, so be ready for it. Google tried to make it happen this year with Google Wallet, but fell on their face. Apple won’t fail.
If Apple leave their NFC chips wide open (which I seriously doubt they’d allow), I for one would assist in developing a method for either disabling the chips, or digging them out of the phones.
What I would rather see Apple adopt is the firewall concept I note below.
NFC is already very comman place in Japan, either through the feature being built in the phones or through pass cards such as Suica and Nanaco.
The big dire problem with NFC is being able to access its data without your permission. The solution is going to be something along the lines of a firewall where the owner can:
1) Make the thing wide open, if they’ve lost their mind.
OR
2) Filter access to only specific, certificate verified vendors.
OR
3) Physically OK every single access attempt. This is my personal preference. No marketing surveillance allowed.
As NFC is right now, it’s crap. Why are we forced to wrap the chips in a Faraday cage in order to protect ourselves? (NYS issues its NFC enabled driver’s licenses with metal sleeves). No wonder Bill Gates heralded NFC as the next great technology. Fracking Idiot. 😯