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Apple Predicted to Adopt NFC in iPhone 6 as Core Technology for Mobile Payments System
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As Google and Microsoft implement them (and I assume Apple would too) NFC chips are a) never enabled when the screen is off and b) do nothing until something on the opposite end triggers it to send data. And you need to be in close contact (~4 inches) for a few seconds to prevent from instant packet sniffing.
Trying to make a payment system out of Bluetooth LE, which no merchant will support, is never going to get off the ground. Just look at how frequently Passbook is implemented correctly, and that's a far lower barrier to cross vs. new payment terminals which are already scheduled for a hardware refresh by late 2015.
I would not say it would never work. As far as merchant support, even an iPad could work as a POS terminal. Which more then likely they already have laying around.
They can even setup a test system along side their current register once/if Apple gets its own payment system up and running. Something you could not do with most POS register due to high cost & complexity of initial setup.
What? Why would supermarkets, gas stations and fast food restaurants have iPads laying around?
A lot of those are independently owned. I'm sure quite a few owners already have iPads.
If they do adopt any kind of wireless payment technology, I hope they let me turn it off
Most posters here may be sold on convenience, but I don't want to pay the bill for the person ahead of me at the supermarket by mistake...
I'm not sure what your talking about, but it would most likely be through an iTunes account or the businesses application on the idevice. Depending on how Apple sets it up.
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Perhaps, but your average supermarket here has at least 3-4 cash registers open at any given time, and the big hypermarkets have up to 30 cash registers. Gas stations have usually more than one register, as do fast food restaurants.
I seriously doubt that any business owner has a truckload of iPads just laying around somewhere unused so that they can be devoted to POS duties for 12-14 hours a day.
The thing is, that you will at any rate need to subscribe to a PCI service from one of the credit companies. And when you do that, you'll get one of their devices as well. So, if they don't want to implement iSomething, it doesn't get implemented. It's really that simple. And as far as I know, they are going for NFC.
And I can't recall ever having seen an iDevice used as a POS-system here in Finland, so I'd think that there isn't a huge interest to invest in that tech over here. Sure, it's a small market and probably bears little weight on a global scale, so should that catch on big, I'm sure that we would adapt.
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Wow, sounds expensive. The credit card charges are already quite steep, at least for the "speciality cards" such as AmEx and Diner's. Apple probably wouldn't do this for goodwill, so that's another layer of skimming added on top still. I wonder when we will see pricing based on your method of payment.
Price: $5.00 ($7.00 if you pay with an iPhone)
It does not necessarily need one for every register. Can have one or a few centrally located. Bluetooth LE covers roughly 150 feet. Depending on the size of the establishment. Not saying some details need to be worked out before full deployment. Thats why I mentioned it can be tested out initially for little cost if it could work out for a business. While it may not fully replace the current system, it certainly can speed up payments for customers wanting to use it and make lines shorter and faster service.
Not if Apple utilizes its own payment system. I do Know Paypal has invested in iBeacons for retail too. Perhaps if other financial institutions get with it too.
Well, here in America NFC isn't quite as big in some other counties. While I seen quite a few NFC terminals, I've never actually seen anybody use them. Globally, I don't think think they've caught on yet.
Well, considering its still in the early stages, we don't know that yet. Obviously, it has to be competitive in pricing for adoption.
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Not even Apple Stores!
BLE does have proximity 'ranging' that determines distance from central to peripheral.
I am uncertain of the technical details on BLE vs NFC security implementations, the fruits of which could lead to a decisive winner.
I have the Note 3. It has these features such as eye scan, hand gesture, etc. I really hate it. It doesn't even work that well. Like someone mentioned on here, it's outdated, clunky and annoying. Wish Samsung would get rid of all this stuff and stick to something we ALL use and try to work on those instead of these wannabe fancy features that just annoys the heck out of their customers!
Eh.. unless you are going to start buying your groceries at the Apple Store, that doesn't really count. :roll eyes:
As far as proximity ranging goes, it:
a) chews up battery vs. NFC.
b) is an active, not passive process
c) takes several seconds to happen
d) happens on the 2.4Ghz spectrum, which is again WAY too polluted with devices to be reliable for something like this.
NFC on the other hand,
a) in Android and Windows Phone implementations, chip is only active when the screen is on (Apple would likely follow suit)
b) is a passive process for payments (other device does most of the work)
c) security handshaking happens much faster
d) happens on the 13.56Mhz spectrum which has nothing else important on it.
I have the Note 3. It has these features such as eye scan, hand gesture, etc. I really hate it. It doesn't even work that well. Like someone mentioned on here, it's outdated, clunky and annoying. Wish Samsung would get rid of all this stuff and stick to something we ALL use and try to work on those instead of these wannabe fancy features that just annoys the heck out of their customers!
You meant NFC too? If you did, then, you're pretty much clueless...
Merchants wouldn't want to build a new ecosystem just for Apple users since it seems that payments with iBeacons would be restricted to just Apple users with iOS devices. On the other hand with NFC you'll get open standard that anyone can implement, even Apple if they want to. This actually doesn't even need a hardware support for NFC from the phone itself since it can be done with a NFC sticker and iOS/Android/WP application.
Also, pretty much every pin&chip payment terminal in EU already supports NFC (might not be enabled yet, but it can be via firmware update) and the same thing is going to happen in US too since pin&chip will be required for all new credit/debit cards and every non-compatible payment terminal will be replaced with a new one to support it. So NFC would be covered by that since those merchants are required to change their systems anyway if they want to continue accepting payments with credit/debit cards. Same thing cannot be said for iBeacons, nobody is forcing to support it.
Exactly. As I've explained above, some days ago there has even been a half-hour-long programme in the Finnish state radio explaining how useful NFC is WRT under-15-euro micropayments in shops.
And I haven't even mentioned highly useful and standardized stuff like quick image / file transfer by touching devices without having to maintain a constant Wi-Fi connection (something that would be required with NFC-less and BT OBEX-less iPhones. Lolz - the iPhone doesn't even support BT OBEX - how pathetic...).
Since NFC is not currently being used in iPhones your still restricted to using Android. iBeacons is using BlueTooth LE. BlueTooth is used on both Android & iPhones. It will take a while before Android phones use the newer BlueTooth 4.0 standard and using their own version of iBeacons.
Going from magnetic stripe to Chip & Pin is not going to change anything. Your still going to be tethered to a terminal. Your still going to have to stand in the same line you always had too.
iBeacons: Being able to pay for something anywhere in the store is a powerful thing. That means no standing in line. It means getting in and out of the store will be much faster.
It would more likely not have to be forced for people to use this as it makes peoples lives easier and more convenient. The customers might even ask for this to be adopted if it is improvement over existing systems.
Chews up battery life is not accurate. Current Bluetooth LE dongles last 6 months to a year on one battery, and thats with it being constantly on.
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Considering Windows phone has 3% global market share & Blackberry .6% it is not an issue.