“Users would simply have to enter a pin code and wave the device over an electronic pad fitted beside a door to open it,” Gray reports. “The technology is revealed in a newly published patent application, which has generated speculation that the next model of the iPhone will contain this feature.”
“The iKey uses a similar principal to the technology employed by card access entry systems commonly used in many workplaces and the Oyster Card, used on public transport in London. Car manufacturers, including Mercedes, Lexus and Toyota, are also starting to use such keyless entry systems for their vehicles through key fobs,” Gray reports. “According to the patent, Apple hopes to replace these cards and keyfobs by allowing the iPhone to be used instead to unlock doors to buildings and cars.”
Gray reports, “The iKey technology will take Apple one step further towards creating a ubiquitous mobile device that is the only thing people need to carry in their pockets… eander Kahney, a consumer technology expert and author of a book and blog called the Cult of Mac, said there were strong rumours that Apple had already been testing the technology and it could lead to the company even trying to replace consumers’ wallets.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Makes perfect sense, especially if you want to minimize scratching your iPhone in your pocket. We can see Apple’s slogan already: “No keys, no coins, no scratches.”
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dirty Pierre le Punk” for the heads up.]
No kidding?
@Tommy Boy? Are you worried about your Apple controlled house doing the same thing? That said how do you get in your house if the power’s out? Or your car if you have a dead battery?
And when your battery dies, no entry.
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I hope that the iKey is orders of magnitude more secure than Mifare’s Classic RFID chip, as used in the Oyster card et al, which has been proven to be fairly easily hackable.
I’ll stick my traditional keys, thank you very much
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=:~)
In completely unrelated news, there will be a new app in the App Store, called ‘iPick’.
The glass used in the screen is harder than the metal in keys and coins
It’s cool!! Imagine that you are far from home and some firend ask you to borrow your car and you say “Yes, let me send you the KEY”.
You sent a temporal passcode programed for 1 or 2 days to his iphone to unlock and use the car.
Or simply have a water prof iphone to unlock all your doors.
I was just about to respond to Tommy Boy, but it appears that his comment has been vaporized by the MDN Borg Collective.
The thing is, the “issues” around Toyota are not really issues at all.
No one (inlcluding MIT and Stanford Universities) has been able to reproduce the reported accelerator problems, and there have only been six reported issues to date.
No doubt, these six issues stemmed from user error, and mass histeria.
This mess that Toyota is in, is in fact, nothing more than a consequence of the current administration’s knee-jerk, act-before-thinking finger-pointing agenda.
Let’s see, the government invests heavily in GM, and then mandates a recall, costing Toyota sales and customer loyalty; the same company that also happened to be GM’s biggest threat.
Does anyone else smell a conpsiracy? If there ever was one to believe in, this is it.
“The technology is revealed in a newly published patent application” does not equal “the computer giant…has plans to replace the traditional door key”.
Apple files hundreds of these every year.
John Gee: And when your battery dies, no entry.
That goes for your phone’s battery as well.
John Gee: And when your battery dies, no entry.
That’s why I don’t drive any car newer than a 1936 with a four-cylinder engine. If the battery dies in any newer car, you can’t crank it by hand.
@TheConfuzed1
Weird.
@Jack
Exactly… People are suprised to see me not use a case with my iPhone, but I always say “it doesn’t need it”.
-HazMatt
Hmmm, “iPhoning” some jerk’s car doesn’t sound quite right.
The All-In-One bent Apple is on continues.
This has more to do with making purchases with an iPod or iPhone instead of cash or credit cards. Apple already has hundreds of million active iTunes accounts. The device will act as a secure two way RFID. All the micropayments will then be totted up for the month and your account will then be debited.
@Metryq
Tell that to OnStar that can turn off a car’s ignition at will and can listen to every word spoken, whether there’s a subscription to it or not and whether it’s on or off.
There appears to be a need for ifoil on this thread.
@ TheConfused1
“This mess that Toyota is in, is in fact, nothing more than a consequence of the current administration’s knee-jerk, act-before-thinking finger-pointing agenda.”
Uh, no. The mess that Toyota is in is a consequence of the deplorable state the US auto industry finds itself in, caused by their own lack of foresight and innovation, regardless of who holds the stock. This is a trade war, pure and simple, ignited by the fact that no one bought an American car with their Clunker Cash, they all bought Toyotas. It’s a bit of a giveaway when auto industry CEOs are sitting right behind lawmakers as Akio Toyoda testifies about what naughty scum-sucking jerk he’s been.
All this finds a willing audience among corporate accomplices in the media who are willing to hump a few freak cases into an all-out recallocalypse. You can bet that it won’t be long before a Hyundai full of nuns is rendered charcoal by a sticky cigarette lighter, or a Kia containing innocent rotarians bursts into flames outside some church.
This isn’t over.
@TheConfuzed1
Yes. This world is full of conspiracies. I can understand that you are confuzed.
Why does an idea like this bring out such nutbag responses?
There’s a simple compromise. Have BOTH. Use the electronic lock for day to day stuff, and the key lock for long term outages, like vacations. Most current electronic locks have a manual backup as well.
Remember, the Illuminati WANT you to be a Luddite!
@TheConfuzed1
Keep the political crap out of MDN
@c1
wow, right on!!
Can’t compete, litigate
I’ll stick my traditional keys, thank you very much
@Chas,
Yeah, because traditional keys are SO secure. Nobody ever picks or bumps the lock, or copies or loses the keys.
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I love how whenever some new technology arrives to replace an older technology, everybody always points out the flaws in the new technology and completely ignores all the (obvious) problems with the old technology.
@wleddy
Right on, right on… While we’re at it…
Keep the political crap out of Health Care, too!
Will there be customer support for iKey issues?
How about Applecare for iKey?
Will HTC copy one for themselves?
Meh, it’s a bit early for April 1st…
1) Physical keys are extremely unsecure. Just ask any locksmith. I spoke to one before and he laughed and said that keys give people a sense of security but in reality they are useless. He said you should have huge bolts on the doors when you go to sleep and have a good alarm system.
2) The iPhone/iPod glass can scratch. I’ve seen my friend’s get all scratched up by the keys in his pocket. The glass is hard but it’s not diamond. My iPhone is OK because I have protection film but I have an iPod touch and the glass is nicked, and I don’t even abuse it; I take care of it but there’s no film and now it’s nicked. So, don’t go believing the iPhone glass is “untouchable.”
Conspiracies in my lifetime:
• The Apollo moon landings were faked by the US government
• The oil crisis of 1979 was created by the oil companies
• The attacks of 9/11 were orchestrated by Jews
This is the thinking of simpletons. My favorites involve “the government”, inefficient and blundering at most everything else, pulling off massive intrigues involving thousands of people with clockwork precision.
ChrissyOne writes, “This is a trade war, pure and simple, ignited by the fact that no one bought an American car with their Clunker Cash, they all bought Toyotas.”
Actually, Ford did well from the program – the taxpayers, not so much. Amortizing the cost of the program against the marginal increase in sales (beyond those that would have been purchased without the program), it came to some $30,000 per car sold – not to mention the resultant higher costs on the used car market. And, yes, foreign brands benefited more than US brands. The same holds for the “green energy” portion of the stimulus. The “wind energy” component no doubt created more jobs in China than the US.
Regarding the iKey, I for one wouldn’t trust all my sensitive data in one place that could be lost or compromised. And Motor Week’s Goss, in a piece on “smart keys”, points out that repairing or replacing today’s keys can cost hundreds of dollars. I lost a spare key to my ’89 Prelude. It cost me $3 at Ace to replicate it.
Of course, it will only work with the iCar… Also, buy your next house in the App Store.
@Quad Core
iPick? Don’t buy that app. Use a Kleenex or you’ll make your nose bleed.
@ Rot’nApple
“Keep the political crap out of Health Care, too!”
Yeah, keep government out of this business before it gets its hands on MediCare.
This April 1st story was released 3 1/2 weeks early……..
Zipcar for iPhone already does this.
@ChrissyOne…
Be careful, you’ll confuse the poor saps with shallow brain pans and permanently scraped knuckles (they drag y’know).
Yeah, keep the government out of it and let the CIA handle it.
Meanwhile, read this book to get some idea what is going on.
THE SECRET TEAM
The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World
by L. FLETCHER PROUTY Col., U.S. Air Force (Ret)
Then you will know why the iKey is needed.
When it’s said Windows can never be secure there is a good reason for that, for Mac, who knows, can I see the source code?
Let me see, you have the iKey in iPhone and can open all the doors in your life, then you do auto sync with your computer, and Ö,Ö suddenly Homeland Security 人 can visit you without you knowing it.
For some reason I prefer people spending 2 hours drilling through my apartment front door than zapping through with an iPhone. Yes, that actually happened, 6 dead bolts and a steel door, Chinese style.
@TheConfuzed1
yo, butt whistle!? Your powder is a bit wet. Just how long has it been since ‘yota customers started complaining about this “issue”? That’s right. The year was 2000. With a little math, stay with me, that would make it 10 years ago.
Listen to C1. She is spot on.