Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on NFC, Wireless Charging and the Lightning Connector

[samcraig]

It can't be that expensive, nearly every taxi in Japan has a reader, every bus, nearly every train station, most vending machines, MacD, Starbucks, convenient stores; literally millions of reader.
Agree with the chicken/ egg situation. If there is no demand companies will not move. BUT: Apple is often a demand-creator. iPod, iPhone, iPad, ... Many other stuff. There was not (that big) demand before Apple took over initiatives.

If NFC would be included the shops would follow and convenience spread.
But I understand that we missed the chance this time. It also doesn't really matter; I will just continue using my little card and continue to "beep" me into the bus and train and enjoy the easiness of this payment method.

I'll add something to ponder. Apple seems to pride itself on being the best. Cutting edge. Ahead of the pack. Yet in many instances they are late adopters. Business wise - it's works for them because they can still do product updates and keep customers on board. The flip side is - in some respects they are anything but cutting edge and play it very safe. Apple still does take risks, of course. We can say whatever we want about the competition - but they do take risks. Some will call it a lack of strategy or just throwing tons of devices and options the consumer to see what sticks. But I don't believe so. I see that as a different kind of risk.

Different models can be successful. And different strokes for different folks.

 

[tbrinkma]

It doesn't support USB 3?

Whether it does or not, you still wouldn't see a difference in sync speed. The flash memory used in current smart phones (iPhone and otherwise) simply isn't fast enough to saturate even a USB 2.0 link.

SSDs, use banks of interleaved flash memory to speed things up in a manner similar to RAID striping. That's why *they* can saturate the much faster SATA interfaces.

 

[throys]

NFC is not popular or non-existent here in the UK. most users friends family have phones with NFC built in and don't know what it is or what it even does. Goods things comes to those who wait and I agree with company who makes shattered decision not ones which is forced upon them by demanding.

 

[Abazigal]

As is yours quite bluntly.

It would be an option. And given that the tubes already use RFID, I doubt THEY would change the turnstiles to something slower. What they MIGHT do is offer NFC payments to BUY a card.

And just because you MIGHT use your phone to commute doesn't mean that your Oyster Card still wouldn't be an option or contain the information on your balance. So you leave your phone at home or it's dead - you still have the card in your pocket.

It's about options and choices.

The point the OP was making to you is simply that if someone wants to take something of yours - they're going to take it. Phone, camera, GPS, oystercard that is half out of your pocket, wallet or whatever.

AND - there's one more thing to always remember. It's a phone. It's replaceable. Expensive? Sure. But replaceable.

Isn't this simply called 'redundancy'? The whole point of having a payment alternative on your phone would be so you can replace the card and leave it at home. And that is not going to happen if your phone stands a greater chance of getting stolen, or the service being less reliable or similar.

There's a difference between need and want. And smart phones are more about "wants."

You don't NEED Siri - but it can be useful

You don't NEED FaceTime - but it can be useful

You don't NEED a faster processor but it sure makes the phone nicer to use

You don't NEED more storage - but it sure is nice

You don't NEED color options - but it's nice to have

etc...

I am sure I will use and appreciate all these features over NFC any time of the day. So it's not just about wants, but degree of wants, and I feel that NFC is currently ranking pretty low at the moment.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The first reason is that it costs A LOT of money for retailers to implement. it is an incremental cost of millions of dollars even for small specialty chains, equate higher cost with every pin pad/swipe device

Retailers will implement anything it is helps them move cash from customers to their coffers at a profit.

It takes a lot of money for retailers to implement wifi or pay for our "free" wifi but none of us find fault with that (and that actually costs the retailers money rather than being an option to generate direct revenues).

Retailers that couldn't afford to implement NFC just wouldn't and we would still pay with our credit cards, cash or checks if we wanted to shop there. Retailers that can't afford wifi installs, just don't install it and we still get our Internet fixes via 3G/4G or by finding our wifi somewhere else. Apple building it wouldn't force the world into anything any more than building in LTE if forcing the world to immediately offer compatible LTE everywhere.

Bottom line: Apple implements NFC in "5" and tens of millions of "5" sell, creating a strong motivation for lots of retailers to come up with the money for NFC payment options. Apple implements wireless charging in "5" and tens of millions of "5" sell, creating the motivation for airports, hotels, restaurants, meeting rooms, offices, transportation, etc to build in charging pads. They'll just do it (have we not noticed changes at places like that to present us with more sockets at "charging stations" so that we can plug in our gadgets?). In the former we get one more way to conveniently pay for things. In the latter, it becomes a lot easier to keep our iDevices charged as we go about our day or week (much easier than lugging along a cable & power brick, and then having to hunt for a free socket if we need a charge).

Instead, Apple didn't include those features and that strong motivation for those added conveniences wait for 5s or 6+. Don't we hate needing a charge and finding available sockets full? Don't we ever think that our iDevice could be charging while I'm stuck sitting here if I only had access to some power?

 

[Zunjine]

But the post that I replied to is not?

That is what I was doing, illustrating the logical errors of the post I referenced by using the same kind of "logic errors" to make points about things that are included in an iPhone. However, you choose to find fault with my points but did not write a similar post for the guy's comments on which I was commenting, paraphrasing, etc? Difference: my version of his comments leaned against the way that Apple moved; his post supported Apple's decision to leave these features out. So of course, my post was worth your time to find such fault with my "illogic" and "nonsense" but his was fine?

Here's another way to go though: all of those convinced that NFC and/or wireless charging "is stupid", "makes no sense", etc now should feel exactly the same way when Apple adds those kinds of features in the future. In other words, if Apple is so right to leave them out now, Apple should be wrong to add them in not too far down the road... just like Apple was so right to leave out the isight camera from that first iPad or just like Apple was so right to not embrace 1080p for years when just about everyone else and everything else was there, etc.

Of course that won't happen. As soon as Apple endorses something that even they previously said "doesn’t make sense" just about all these "whatever Apple says" cheerleaders will be quick to flip right with them. Posts right on this site show a huge amount of railing against an iSight camera making any sense in an iPad until iPad 2 when it made perfect sense and "I'm upgrading for Facetime", etc. Similarly, 1080p made no sense at all until TV3 and then it made perfect sense. Even within the last few weeks of rumors about this iPhone, the "crowd" here seemed to find great fault with the looks, lengthening without widening, 2-tone back, and "too many similarities" to the iPhone 4s; now that it's here, some of those very same people are gushing and ready to upgrade (those with any sense of individual self are at least using phrases like "it's kind of grown on me" and similar). Some of the very same players passionately arguing against an advancement before Apple takes the step quickly flip to arguing passionately for it when Apple flip flops.

And here we are again- a thread in which various people are posting every logical and illogical reason against NFC and wireless charging. Will they be just as passionately opposed when Apple does include those features in 5s or 6? For example, the guy who didn't want NFC for fear of thieves stealing it as he used it at the turnstiles instead of a paper ticket is probably not going to upgrade to the 5s or 6 because it should be just as at risk of those thieves then as it is now, right? Or the guys arguing against it because it's not yet everywhere... or standardized on a global scale (but apparently there's no issue with LTE which is not yet everywhere or standardized on a global scale) will rail against Apple in the future when they put their own proprietary spin on NFC and maybe wireless charging so they can sell licensing and accessories only available from Apple?

That's what's so funny in threads like this. NFC or wireless makes no sense or "is stupid" because it's not everywhere but a brand new docking port that absolutely no one can currently hook to anything makes perfect sense... as does building in LTE which only exists in relatively few parts of the world. Paper tickets make sense instead of NFC to protect against my iPhone getting stolen but paper maps make no sense against built-in Emaps because apparently thieves only make their moves at the turnstiles?

Well, I'd hardly feel the need to respond to my own post, now would I?

My position on NFC is that it's a potentially useful feature but that right now it's probably not worth adding for the reasons I outlined. That's my opinion. You tried to argue that my argument against the utility value of NFC could also be applied to maps and email - and you were wrong. It can't be applied. Maps on a phone DO add value and integrating them with the same device that uses email does make them more useful. This will likely be the case one day when NFC is far more widely adopted than it is now but, at present, I would not be able to use NFC on my device to replace my other payment mechanisms. I have NFC on my bank card and, since I would need to take this card with me even if NFC were enabled on my smartphone, there is minimal value to me.

Yes, NFC can be used to wirelessly pair with other devices but then I have never once had the opportunity to do this - and blutooth is far more widely adopted as a wireless pairing system. Potentially this may be something I want to do in the future - of course. But, as of now, it wouldn't be a killer feature for me - not something which I would find value in.

Again - the guy arguing against NFC at the turnstiles was me! And no, if it were enabled on the iPhone 5s I would not use it. I may buy an iPhone 5s for other features but, for me, the use of such a device at the tube turnstiles would not be something I find attractive. I can see potential uses for NFC but none are currently compelling. I'm not anti-NFC as a technology but I am anti-NFC for some uses.

You seem to be having trouble following and I don't have the time of inclination to tutor you on basic logic. Suffice it to say, I see LTE as a nice to have but not vital feature. I see NFC as a potentially useful feature for some uses but not a big deal yet. Wireless charging I see as a complete gimmick with almost no utility value - it's a flawed concept to begin with and since including it would require additional hardware, adding weight and bulk, I am glad they didn't include it. If and when wireless charging becomes useful (faster, for instance, or when their are wireless charging mats built into many surfaces in offices or what have you), when the utility outweighs the cost, my view on this topic may shift. At present, this is a silly bit of flash tech that companies include purely for bragging rights - like massive megapixel counts in tiny camera phones.

Before I sign off, I want to draw attention to just one bit of your post:

"Paper tickets make sense instead of NFC to protect against my iPhone getting stolen but paper maps make no sense against built-in Emaps because apparently thieves only make their moves at the turnstiles?"

This is a classic and not very well constructed strawman. Electronic maps have many, many advantages over paper maps. I can use my electronic map in any city I visit while a nationwide paper map would be unwieldy to carry, I can use GPS in the map to locate me even if I can't find a street sign, use GPS to locate other people using tracking apps if I am trying to find someone, use live traffic information and get updates to the map if streets are altered, use automatic journey planners and even a built in magnetometer to orient myself, and further. These are massive, qualitative advantages to electronic maps over paper ones. To say that this is the same building in tickets which I can already get electronically in emails should I need to - is nonsense and you know that. Furthermore I didn't argue that thieves only make their move at turnstiles. You know I didn't say this yet you have chosen to lie and say that I did in order to further develop your strawman. I merely pointed out that it would be an ideal place for an opportunistic thief to strike. How is that illogical? It would be. You may not know of the tactic used by some pick-pockets and other street thieves who snatch valuable items from people on trains and bolt off of the train just before the door closes - this is common on the underground in London. Now, tell me, why do you suppose those same thieves wouldn't take advantage of other barriers in order to ensure they aren't chased by their victim?

All this is basically pointless - it's clear from your post that you didn't come here to engage in a proper discussion. You came to use dishonest and unpleasant logical fallacies in order to attack people for sharing their honest views. You and people like you are the reason it's so hard to have a proper discussion on internet forums and I wish you'd either grow up and start behaving like an adult or just sod off and attack people someplace else.

 

[tbrinkma]

We have PayPass point-of-sale terminals here in some American stores as well, but nobody uses it. PayPass is the Mastercard NFC contactless payment system; PayWave is the Visa version.

There are NFC transit cards here in the USA, but as far as I know, there is no common standard at this point.

And that, right there, is why nobody actually uses it *except* for mass transit systems. Every place that implemented it, implemented it differently, and the different implementations are not compatible.

 

[samcraig]

Isn't this simply called 'redundancy'? The whole point of having a payment alternative on your phone would be so you can replace the card and leave it at home. And that is not going to happen if your phone stands a greater chance of getting stolen, or the service being less reliable or similar.



I am sure I will use and appreciate all these features over NFC any time of the day. So it's not just about wants, but degree of wants, and I feel that NFC is currently ranking pretty low at the moment.

OK - that's your use case. Try not to equate your use case, wants and needs with the entire worlds. Just sayin'

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I think wireless charging is the biggest waste. Takes longer and you need to add weight to the devices that use it. And travelers have to take another contraption to plug in at their hotel.

Funny thing. When I go to a hotel- pretty much anywhere in the world- they have this feature there called wifi which gives me access to the Internet. I don't have to lug along my own router and configure it- the hotel just has it because they are in the business of providing value to customers. They know that many of their guests will desire that feature so that added it to their list of amenities.

When I go to a hotel anywhere on my continent, they have these things called electrical sockets. I can just plug my stuff in rather than having to bring in an electrical engineer to adapt what they have so that it can work with my stuff.

Getting to those hotels, the cars I drive burn gas and these things called gas stations pop up all along my routes- whatever they are- so that I can get the energy I need to make that device go. I don't have to drill for my own oil and then refine it into a formulation of gasoline that will work for the car I'm driving at the time, nor do I have to lug along tanks of gas from home to cover my energy needs for each trip.

Point: if wireless charging was built into "5", it would only be a relatively short time until "charging stations" and "charging pads" would be showing up all over the place. Starbucks, McD, hotel lobbies then individual rooms, meeting rooms, airports then airport first class seats and then maybe even some "premium" steerage, trains, ships, and on and on. Apple rolled out proprietary docking port 1 and soon a ton of accessories with that hookup showed up in places where it could be a value: cars, hotels, etc. Apple is now rolling out proprietary docking port 2 and soon a ton of accessories with that port will show up in places where it could be a value: cars, hotels, etc. No place in the entire world- except Apple headquarters- has proprietary port 2 jacks in place today but we find no fault with that knowing that they will come (just like wireless charging pads would pop up everywhere if that features was also built into the "5").

Or, if my main issue is having to lug along a personal charging station for wireless charging, we should have similar issue with having to lug along other stuff for wired charging. The former could eventually become so readily available that we could quit lugging along extra stuff. The latter will always require a cable and often a power brick/block for as long as it is THE way endorsed by Apple.

 

[SuperNU]

Cool!

 

[Zunjine]

As is yours quite bluntly.

It would be an option. And given that the tubes already use RFID, I doubt THEY would change the turnstiles to something slower. What they MIGHT do is offer NFC payments to BUY a card.

And just because you MIGHT use your phone to commute doesn't mean that your Oyster Card still wouldn't be an option or contain the information on your balance. So you leave your phone at home or it's dead - you still have the card in your pocket.

It's about options and choices.

The point the OP was making to you is simply that if someone wants to take something of yours - they're going to take it. Phone, camera, GPS, oystercard that is half out of your pocket, wallet or whatever.

AND - there's one more thing to always remember. It's a phone. It's replaceable. Expensive? Sure. But replaceable.

Would you like to point one out? One logical error?

Tubes may offer NFC to buy tickets. True. And if they do I can already do that with my bank card.

If I have to take my Oyster card with me, what is the real value of also having this data on my phone? What is it really adding? In fact, I very much doubt that London Underground would allow me to have my Oyster card details on both my phone and my card - that would allow people to share travel cards (I could leave one with my partner while I use the other so long as we made sure to travel at different times) which is basically fair dodging. I suspect that, if I activated the card on my phone the card itself would have to be deactivated.

Adding in redundancy also adds in risk, consider this scenario - I have my credit card on my phone as a physical card - I have to have both with me because many places do not yet accept NFC payments. Now, suppose I use my phone more often - maybe I go entire days without using the card, this means that, should my card be stolen, it would be longer before I noticed - at present I would notice within hours since I use my card all the time. Someone could be using my card while I just merrily go ahead making payments with my phone. So I haven't added much by way of simplicity, nor have I reduced the number of items I need to carry, but I have added an additional security risk - small but not insignificant. And all for essentially zero benefit to me.

Of course, if a thief wants to take my stuff they are going to - if that's the case, why bother locking my doors? Why bother ensuring my phone ISN'T pocking out of my pocket. Arguing that a risk exists and that, for that reason, we should do nothing to mitigate that risk is utter nonsense and I suspect you know that.

 

[iEvolution]

Lightning adapter... what a bunch of BS. Costs 40 bucks for the conversion adapter...not to mention I do not see a single iDevice using this adapter being any thinner than before.

Nice gimmick Apple, changing it just so customers have to buy that conversion adapter at 40 bucks.

 

[thewitt]

Lightning adapter... what a bunch of BS. Costs 40 bucks for the conversion adapter...not to mention I do not see a single iDevice using this adapter being any thinner than before.

Nice gimmick Apple, changing it just so customers have to buy that conversion adapter at 40 bucks.

Don't buy one.

They give you a charging cable with your phone.

 

[tbrinkma]

Not necessarily. NFC has other uses for things like sharing to other devices, pairing with peripherals, and even using NFC tags to launch applications, set user settings, and more.

Mobile payments are a great use for NFC, but certainly not the only use.

So, in addition to payments, NFC is also useful for the same things that Bluetooth and WiFi already do better and faster?

NFC will be included on the iPhone when it's common enough that the people using it outside of mass transit systems are more than a statistical anomaly. (At least in the US, most mass transit systems require the use of their own physical card, regardless of whether your phone happens to have NFC support. And they're not cross-compatible between systems. )

 

[iisdan]

This guy needs to be fired. I really couldn't care less if the phone is thinner and lighter... thats not innovation.

Wireless charging, NFC, or feeling the screen are the only ways I will buy a new phone.

"wireless charging systems still have to be plugged into the wall"
THEN MAKE SOMETHING THAT DOESNT... i thought apple did this "magic"?

"It’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem," ... ummmmmm yes it does? who wants to scan a barcode? and payments? I'm sick and tired of lugging around a wallet.

I really hope samsung comes out with wireless charging (without a pad) and shows apple a lesson. Theres more to innovation then thin and light.

"This is the new connector for many years to come" I may pull my money out of Apple.

 

[samcraig]

Would you like to point one out? One logical error?

Tubes may offer NFC to buy tickets. True. And if they do I can already do that with my bank card.

If I have to take my Oyster card with me, what is the real value of also having this data on my phone? What is it really adding? In fact, I very much doubt that London Underground would allow me to have my Oyster card details on both my phone and my card - that would allow people to share travel cards (I could leave one with my partner while I use the other so long as we made sure to travel at different times) which is basically fair dodging. I suspect that, if I activated the card on my phone the card itself would have to be deactivated.

Adding in redundancy also adds in risk, consider this scenario - I have my credit card on my phone as a physical card - I have to have both with me because many places do not yet accept NFC payments. Now, suppose I use my phone more often - maybe I go entire days without using the card, this means that, should my card be stolen, it would be longer before I noticed - at present I would notice within hours since I use my card all the time. Someone could be using my card while I just merrily go ahead making payments with my phone. So I haven't added much by way of simplicity, nor have I reduced the number of items I need to carry, but I have added an additional security risk - small but not insignificant. And all for essentially zero benefit to me.

Of course, if a thief wants to take my stuff they are going to - if that's the case, why bother locking my doors? Why bother ensuring my phone ISN'T pocking out of my pocket. Arguing that a risk exists and that, for that reason, we should do nothing to mitigate that risk is utter nonsense and I suspect you know that.

So you can already do that with your bank card. You can also navigate with your printed map instead of your smart phone, right?

You can already share your oyster card. As long as you both don't overlap you can share your card with as many people as you want. Plus I am pretty sure that if they enable NFC (again for purchasing not for the oystercard) they will have figured out how to thwart that. Or they wouldn't do it. Shocker!

If you want to say - for you - you wouldn't use NFC or find it of little value - that's fine. And acceptable. Just as long as you don't try to imply that your use case = the entire worlds use case as well.

Some people want options. I was SLAMMED (sincerely) for stating that there's a lot of reasons people would want a front facing camera on the iPad. I was in a very small minority that saw the potential. Hundreds of reasons why it wouldn't work - isn't practical - wouldn't be useful, you name it. Then it appeared on the iPad 2 and became one of the major selling points.

My point isn't that I'm some genius or fortune teller. My point is - there's nothing wrong with providing the option. If you don't want it or find it useful - don't use it. It's not like all of these places are going NFC "only" and won't allow other methods of payments.

Advocating (not that you are) against NFC payments is like someone "advocating" that no one should take AMEX because you don't like or want to use that card. So - don't.

 

[tbrinkma]

but its not backward compatibility for two reasons

1) you need to buy an adapter anyways
2) I'm sure they could have made a usb to 30 pin adapter
2) Not all features are supported "Video and iPod Out not supported"

This sucks. I had hoped that at least with the adapter all my old 30 pin accessories would work, but now what is the point of it. I would rather they had gone with micro usb 3.0 port and just started out with brand new accessories.

Its abundantly clear that you don't actually understand how the old, 'dock' connector worked, or how the new 'lightning' connector works. Both of them provide functionality which can't be done over USB without putting (comparatively) expensive electronics in the accessory device.

Oh, and the 'micro' USB 3.0 port is almost as big as the 'dock' connector was.

The little, micro connector everyone is posting pictures of is the USB 2.0 version.

The 'lightning' connector allows for dynamic pin-outs, meaning it has enough connectors to theoretically support USB 3.0 in the future, when the on-board flash memory gets fast enough to make that useful (IIRC, two of the 10 pins in the micro USB 3.0 connector are 'ground' pins, so the 8 data pins and 1 ground should sufficient to implement it on the 'lightning' connector).

 

[samcraig]

So, in addition to payments, NFC is also useful for the same things that Bluetooth and WiFi already do better and faster?

NFC will be included on the iPhone when it's common enough that the people using it outside of mass transit systems are more than a statistical anomaly. (At least in the US, most mass transit systems require the use of their own physical card, regardless of whether your phone happens to have NFC support. And they're not cross-compatible between systems. )

Both Wifi and Bluetooth requiring pairing. It also uses less power.

So no - it's not better at everything and anything. And because it doesn't have pairing - it not necc faster in every instance either.

Just asking - sincerely - how much or how little you know about NFC and/or it's potential use cases?

 

[PeterQVenkman]

I'll tell you how they can hurt.

NFC could add thickness and battery life concerns. Wireless charging would add another layer of difficulty (and thickness) that would likely conflict with current design. They would have to customize the design for wireless charging (in current state) in mind.

All things other companies have a handle on. I'm confident Apple could do it, and do it well.

For something that's such a novelity that would be kind of silly.

Today's silly novelties are Apple's new revolutionary features tomorrow. See: larger screen size on iPhone, 1080p video on iTunes.

 

[scottparker999]

I suspect the headphone jack has been moved to the bottom to support the device while it is in a speaker dock.

I cant imagine the lightning port being able to securely hold the phone in a dock position.

 

[Flux.Capacitor]

I'll add something to ponder. Apple seems to pride itself on being the best. Cutting edge. Ahead of the pack. Yet in many instances they are late adopters. Business wise - it's works for them because they can still do product updates and keep customers on board. The flip side is - in some respects they are anything but cutting edge and play it very safe. Apple still does take risks, of course. We can say whatever we want about the competition - but they do take risks. Some will call it a lack of strategy or just throwing tons of devices and options the consumer to see what sticks. But I don't believe so. I see that as a different kind of risk.

Different models can be successful. And different strokes for different folks.

NFC is not popular or non-existent here in the UK. most users friends family have phones with NFC built in and don't know what it is or what it even does. Goods things comes to those who wait and I agree with company who makes shattered decision not ones which is forced upon them by demanding.

I dont think Apple likes to introduce technology for the sake of adding a feature to their devices unless they believe in it and are willing to push it forward. They either don't believe the advantages of adding it outweigh the negatives (bigger phone? battery hog? something else to conflict with other parts?), or they think there is a better alternative.

Here in the states it's not as widely used either. None of my Android friends use it. I believe they'll give us the technology to pay-by-phone when it's good and ready.

 

[tbrinkma]

Wireless charging, NFC, or feeling the screen are the only ways I will buy a new phone.

"wireless charging systems still have to be plugged into the wall"
THEN MAKE SOMETHING THAT DOESNT... i thought apple did this "magic"?

So, if it doesn't plug into the wall, where is the wireless charging system going to get it's electricity?

At some point, the charging system has to be connected to a power source. Unless you're plugging into a solar panel (something I do to keep my bluetooth car kit charged) you're going to have to connect the thing to the grid at some point. This means plugging it into the wall. *

"It’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem," ... ummmmmm yes it does? who wants to scan a barcode? and payments? I'm sick and tired of lugging around a wallet.

I really hope samsung comes out with wireless charging (without a pad) and shows apple a lesson. Theres more to innovation then thin and light.

"This is the new connector for many years to come" I may pull my money out of Apple.

*Note: There *is* a new form of wireless power transfer in development, which is different from the wireless (induction) charging that is commonly used today. It doesn't have many of the weaknesses seen in induction charging, but it isn't (yet) ready for prime time.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

If you watch the video, you can see that, while it allows greater separation between the device and the power source, it's still a very directional technology, which limits it to similar (if slightly more flexible) scenarios as those seen with a 'traditional' induction charging mat.

 

[jrswizzle]

The iPhone will NEVER have NFC the way it's currently instituted in smartphones.....

In iOS 7, they'll release a software update enabling the GOBI feature of the LTE radio enabling the same types of communications as the typical "NFC" chips that are out now.

AND, they won't have to add more to the internals since the tech is already built into the current chip

AND, it'll be a way to make customers want to buy the 5/5S over the 4/4S next year.

As for wireless charging...until they can figure out a way to charge your device through a wifi/bluetooth type connection (in other words, without have ANY component plugged in), wireless charging is a gimmick. And IF they come up with this system for charging, it will truly be innovative.

 

[Flux.Capacitor]

...all of those convinced that NFC and/or wireless charging "is stupid", "makes no sense", etc now should feel exactly the same way when Apple adds those kinds of features in the future. In other words, if Apple is so right to leave them out now, Apple should be wrong to add them in not too far down the road...

Not exactly though. Just because something is not right now doesn't mean it wont be right in the future. Right now, for me personally, NFC is not necessary. I don't need it because I cannot use it anywhere that I frequent. So to not include it now, is the right move. It's takes space, battery etc. If next year NFC really takes off, then yes, it'll be the right time to do it.

As far as wireless charging... not sure the advantages. Aside from the same reasons as NFC (space, phone size etc) I still need to plug something into a wall so I need to carry something with me when I travel, keep it close to something at home. So what really is the advantage?

I'm not saying Apple is always right, God no... they aren't. but in these instances... I don't need those features, or WANT those features right now. I prefer a lighter, smaller, sleeker phone.

 

[Rocketman]

The commitment to keep this connector for many years to come is very helpful for users and accessory manufacturers.

The forsaking of NFC is a strong indication Apple is on the GOBI (Qualcomm, integrated cell modems, and wireless generally) bandwagon.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15637395/

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15637877/

Rocketman