“Apple’s new Passbook feature in iOS 6 isn’t just a coupon app; it’s a framework that enables retailers to develop smart apps for transactions, without relying on new Near Field Communications hardware to do so,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“The real power and utility of Passbook is not in the new app itself, but rather in the framework of functionality and infrastructure Apple created around it,” Dilger reports. “In other words, the new Passbook app in iOS 6 is just the client interface for a series of features Apple has woven through iOS 6 and its supporting cloud services, including the App Store and its Push Notification Service.”
Dilger reports, “With Passbook, Apple intends to make iOS 6 that much more attractive to custom development in a way that fails to benefit its competitors, without requiring retailers to adopt an entirely new NFC hardware payment system.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
Related articles:
Apple steps closer toward integrated mobile payment market – August 29, 2012
How NFC could fit into Apple’s iPhone 5 – August 29, 2012
Apple wins NFC-enabled barcode-reading ‘on-the-go shopping list’ patent – August 7, 2012
Apple’s $356 million AuthenTec buy a possible prelude to mobile e-payments – July 27, 2012
Apple patent application details iOS devices that control everything in your home via NFC – July 27, 2012
Apple to buy AuthenTec for $356 million – July 27, 2012
Researcher takes complete control of Android and Nokia phones by merely waving another device near them – July 26, 2012
Mobile e-payments via NFC not ready for prime time until Apple says it is – July 18, 2012
How local businesses and Apple’s Passbook could deliver an unbeatable iWallet – July 13, 2012
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
Is Apple building ‘The Device?’ – December 10, 2002
What seperates the men fom the boys…
apples?
Why, when something is quoted verbatim, is a misspelled word followed by [sic] (spelling is correct)? It’s NOT correct!
And how come I’ve never seen a quote with two or more [sic]s? Is it because, on average, writers only misspell one word per sentence? Or is it because of my reading choices?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic
Because sic is a latin word and it does not mean spelling is correct(ed) but it means ‘thus’, as it was so it means as appeared in the original, we didn’t mess the spelling it was already like that
Sic means that the quote was lifted without any changes from the original document and that any spelling mistakes inherent in the quote appear without changes and that therefore you should note that the quote is complete, misspellings and all, and that the writer of the quote did not change the quote in any way for spelling or grammatical errors.
What Apple surely couldn’t leap frog the competition again could they?
For the Korean trolls here that is a game, but unlike the game Apple doesn’t use others inventions to do so…Apple invents (if you’re using an iOS device tap that word and hit define)
I’ve often wondered about the security of NFC – “NFC works by transmitting weak radio signals between a special chip on a mobile device and a closely-positioned chip-reader integrated into a retailer’s Point of Presence payment system, or potentially even a vending machine or other unmanned kiosk. All NFC itself does is replace optical barcode readers or magnetic credit card swipe readers with a radio link, ostensibly adding a new layer of security. However, the way Google implemented NFC features in Android actually opened up all sorts of new security problems.
At this summer’s Black Hat security conference, smartphone hacker Charlie Miller demonstrated NFC security flaws in both Nokia’s N9 and Android phones including the Google-branded Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy S.
In an interview, Miller told Dan Gooden of Ars that NFC “certainly increases the risk that something could go wrong. It opens you up to a lot more than you would think.”
Miller exploited bugs in Google’s implementation of NFC that allowed him to open files and URLs capable of targeting known security flaws in Android. While Google has attempted to fix many of these flaws, more than 80 percent of the installed base of Android users is still stuck, months later, with a version of Android 2.x predating any of those fixes.”
Apple has studied NFC in great detail, and I’m sure determined that NFC is not the way to go. In order for NFC to be successful, virtually all retailers must buy new hardware. For most retailers, that means either an expensive outlay up front or entering into another multi-year lease. Also, this idea failed to catch on in the U.S. with Mastercard’s FastPass (or whatever it was called), that little keychain thingy you would waive over the payment machine.
On the alternative, most retailers already have a bar code scanner. Starbucks has shown the way with their app: It links to your Starbucks card and generates a bar code for you to scan when you order your drink. No cards to carry, no extra equipment for retailers to buy. Plus, the app is password protected, so someone can’t steal your iPhone and waive it in front of Target or somewhere else to buy items.
There have been several attempts to push NFC in the UK, but I’ve yet to see any retailer anywhere using it. I’ve seen people on here criticising Apple for failing to implement it, thus falling behind those cutting edge Asian manufacturers; what’s the point of including tech that has little or no take-up in the real world.
The only large scale use of NFC tech here is the Oyster Card public transport travel pass used city-wide in London, and a few similar but smaller schemes elsewhere.
An iPhone based NFC chip that could be used with such transport systems could make it more attractive on a wider scale, but it would take time. QR Codes are hardly used here, so NFC is going to struggle.