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

[samcraig]

To further - many people don't know they want or need something until they have it - and use/experience it.

People might think NFC won't be that big of a deal for them but if they had it would love it. Others would still not care.

There have been a lot of products or features that have been introduced and people scratched their heads or didn't see the point. But when they owned the device or got the feature - it became unimaginable that they would ever live without it.

I am sure many of us remember asking ourselves why we would ever need one of those huge cell phones when there are payphones on every corner.

That's an Excellent point, and I agree with you. I hadn't looked at it that way. I could see where if many NFC payment options are available to you, you would want the feature. Probably be a big disappointment. But all the ones harping for NFC, is there really a big void by not including it? Or do you just want that feature to know you have it? I'm not in anyway trying to steer anyone away from Android. The true beauty of this all is that we have choice. If you NEED NFC, then go with one of the NFC equipped phones.

I also agree with what you are saying; "Build it and they will come". Possibly true, but there may be a viable, or better alternative they are looking into. or they simply felt that even by the time the next iPhone comes out, NFC or wireless charging still wouldn't have caught up so it's best to keep costs to a minimum, and improve design at this time. They apparently didn't think the lack of any of these features would hurt sales.

There is no void - and it isn't the point. NFC has some real uses and it is out there, my point is that Schiller is plain wrong about it. It's not enough to make it a deal-breaker but I would like to have seen it in the iPhone because I want to get rid of my credit cards, tokens and subway passes. And I would have liked it in the iPhone because i despise Windows Phone and Android build quality and user experience.

 

[dv8r]

All of the things I noted are far, far faster my way than by NFC. Why? Because you don't have to wait months or years for the NFC readers to be installed in all those places.

Sure, when NFC is broadly adopted it might be a cool if somewhat redundant but slightly faster way to do certain things. For now, all those "problems" already have been solved in fairly well adopted and standard ways. NFC may be the solution one day, but for now it's largely a nice to have bit of tech. A fancy toy. Not much else.

It (again) depends on where you are - there are plenty of places with NFC around me so I don't need to wait for readers to be installed, I'm waiting for my preferred device to be able to utilize it.

You do realize that the "fancy toy" argument was the same when going from money to credit cards?

 

[Wokeupinapanic]

"As for wireless charging, Schiller notes that the wireless charging systems still have to be plugged into the wall, so it's not clear how much convenience they add. The widely-adopted USB cord, meanwhile, can charge in wall outlets, computers and even on airplanes, he said."

That has to be one of the weakest arguments I've ever seen.

The widely-adopted 30-pin connector is built into more devices around us in our homes than any other connector, but it is totally OK to change that. But implementing both wired and wireless charging is just, holy cow, not do-able because of plugs or something?

If they had said that the technology wasn't to a point where they felt comfortable fitting it inside the phone due to weight, or size limits or something, I could see letting them get away with that. But because it is something you still have to connect? What???

I could connect three phones through one plug. An iPad and a phone at the same time. As it stands now, I can't keep both my iPad and phone charged at the same time, because I don't have a convenient way to charge both. And thus, I don't use my iPad often. Which means, I'm not buying a new iPad ANY time soon, because I can't even keep it charged.

I recall a tech demo of a company Apple purchased (I believe, or maybe it was an actual Apple prototype... Either way, not important)... of a wireless charging unit built into the bottom of an iMac. This technology also didn't need contact. Meaning no special mats to place down. You just put your phone, or iPad, in close enough proximity to the "station" and it would charge. That didn't require an extra plug. That didn't even require specific mats, or anything. It was a base-station, that could be implemented into many household, office, or travel items. Imagine an arm rest on a plane, or the bottom of your coffee pot. Just placing your phone near these would draw power, and charge your phone. Sure, the technology probably isn't quite there yet, but say THAT instead. Not, "it still has plugs or something, I don't know!"

This is a total joke of an explanation. The worst part is, they make it sound like they aren't even looking at it as a technology. That it doesn't give any benefit to customers in their eyes. Meaning the next phone probably won't have it either. And if it does, why did they claim it didn't actually benefit the customer last time, but this time, it does??

It is a joke. And I really like the new phone. I do. I don't even mind that wireless charging isn't in it. But that excuse? Really? That is the best he could come up with? Absolute joke.

 

[Flux.Capacitor]

Personally, I could care less about it myself. I just chimed in when I saw the tired old "I don't want it" (so "its stupid" for anyone else to want it) posts- a long list of logical & illogical arguments always supporting Apple's decision to leave out something that some would have liked to see.

...

The argument for is not an argument for Android, much like the desire for Flash was not an argument for Android either. It's just individual utility desire (wanting a handy device like iPhone to do things that have value to individuals).

Speaking for myself (not any other poster here), I don't think it's "stupid" for anyone else to want it. I was curious though as to the comments like "Apple is done innovating" and the utter disappointment in the new phone and it being the "beginning of the end of Apple" and all because of the omission of NFC. I think it's a bit dramatic.

I understand the argument for NFC is not an argument for Android, but right now Android is somewhat the only viable alternative if you want/need NFC.

What do you think the possibility is of Apple fulfilling the need for mobile payments with the existing devices? Either through Bluetooth, the on-board LTE chip or even Passbook in the near future?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I understand the argument for NFC is not an argument for Android, but right now Android is somewhat the only viable alternative if you want/need NFC.

Actually, it will be external (third party)... stuff like http://www.devicefidelity.com/ or http://www.icarte.ca/

It would just be much stronger if it was built into all the "5"s about to sell rather than the select few that want to glom it onto the outside of the unit. And I do believe that demand trumps supply so if it was standard in the XX million iPhones about to sell, the applications of it would start popping up like new wifi hotspots.

What do you think the possibility is of Apple fulfilling the need for mobile payments with the existing devices? Either through Bluetooth, the on-board LTE chip or even Passbook in the near future?

Personally? I think the reason there was no NFC in this one is that Apple doesn't hold the patents on NFC. Instead, Apple will come up with it's own incarnation of NFC- something that it can patent and then license- then leverage the mass consumption of iPhone 5S & 6 to try to overtake the NFC standard(?) with the Apple *new* (and thoroughly patented) wireless payment standard.

That's why I saw Phil's comments on this as pure spin... much like the classic Jobs comments against something until Apple decided to do it (then it was the coolest thing ever).

Same with wireless charging. I bet it doesn't make sense only until Apple can come up with something that requires licensing from Apple. Then, it will make enormous sense to Apple.

In the meantime wireless charging for iPhone also exists (and has for a long time now) via http://www.all-battery.com/tenergywirelessreceivercaseforiphone4_4sandchargermat-51022.aspx or "The Hug" case or a multitude of hacks (do a search). But again, building it into all iPhones would have created the demand to motivate those that want to draw iPhone buyers into their establishments to think about putting charging pads in strategic places. A small slice of the iPhone 5 users doing it with a case or similar doesn't carry that same weight with Airports, hotels, restaurants, meeting room caretakers, trains, ships, and on and on. I love the idea that with enough of these entrenched, one could leave the cable and brick behind, charging while they wait for the plane, or while eating a meal, or socializing at the coffee shop, or riding the train, etc.

Some of us keep thinking it means having to lug along a charging pad but that's not the idea. The concept is to get it out there in high volume and commercial charging pads will pop up everywhere we go like charging stations pop up for plugging in our power bricks now. The wired charging alternative absolutely requires the wire and brick goes with us. Commercially offering the brick & wire at charging stations is begging for theft of cables & bricks. So THE (currently) chosen way has this accessory requirement (which is good for Apple with a new proprietary port). The wireless thrust could get us to the point of not needing that accessory.

I can't tell you how often I'm sitting in a conference room wishing a device could be charging and no socket available. Sitting on a plane. Sitting at a station. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Riding a train or taxi. There's all these scenarios where we are stationary but do not have access to an electrical socket. All of those could be charging opportunities as needed. Apple could fuel the supply side by creating the demand just by building it into a device that will be sold in the tens of millions.

Between that day and when commercial charging pads are everywhere, we still bring along our charging cable. If we find a charging pad, we charge without having to pull the cable & brick out of our bag. If we find we are going months without pulling those out of our bag, we've arrived at the vision.

 

[samcraig]

Same with wireless charging. I bet it doesn't make sense only until Apple can come up with something that requires licensing from Apple. Then, it will make enormous sense to Apple.

I clipped your post but agree with most of it.

I also think that Apple (and I am not defending nor attacking them) only introduces incremental changes. This time it was changing the cable. That was "one" power change to the device. And if we believe Apple that it was required to make the device thinner (which OK - not important to me per se) then it made sense for that change to come first. Not to say they considered or didn't consider wireless charging.

I just don't think they would have released a new phone with both new features at the same time. There's already quite an uproar about the costs involved with the new cables. Add to that if wireless charging was yet another cost required to benefit from the option.

And there's the marketing. Do you sell the charging pad as an accessory (I believe yes) or do you raise prices on the phone and sell it as a package. Or do you do both (IE = iPhone 5 Deluxe)

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Apple doesn't update just one thing at a time (unless you are zeroing on how the thing could be charged). This phone has entirely new hardware in it. Just about everything (hardware wise) changed from the 4s.

The "uproar" in cost of new cables is covered by shipping it with the cable in the box (which is what they are doing). The uproar is really about all the third party accessories with the old proprietary connector being either obsolete or requiring a pricy adapter only available from Apple.

Inclusion of wireless charging wouldn't force anyone to have to buy a charging pad too. That would be just an option for those that wanted it, much like adding a "Magic Trackpad" to a Mac purchase... or the new "Earpods".

The marketing shows the "Magic Charge" feature for the "gee whiz" and then makes it an accessory- like showing the Smart Cases for iPad, Earpods, Magic Trackpad, etc.

 

[samcraig]

Apple doesn't update just one thing at a time (unless you are zeroing on how the thing could be charged). This phone has entirely new hardware in it. Just about everything (hardware wise) changed from the 4s.

The "uproar" in cost of new cables is covered by shipping it with the cable in the box (which is what they are doing). The uproar is really about all the third party accessories with the old proprietary connector being either obsolete or requiring a pricy adapter only available from Apple.

Inclusion of wireless charging wouldn't force anyone to have to buy a charging pad too. That would be just an option for those that wanted it, much like adding a "Magic Trackpad" to a Mac purchase... or the new "Earpods".

The marketing shows the "Magic Charge" feature for the "gee whiz" and then makes it an accessory- like showing the Smart Cases for iPad, Earpods, Magic Trackpad, etc.

I don't disagree. And I wasn't saying they only change one thing at a time. I was saying their changes are incremental. IE - faster processor, memory, better camera, etc. I was saying that it's possible that since they were already updating how the device is powered - that they left that as this years update. Nothing more, nothing less.

----------

p.s. Ebay will be filled with these...

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/apple-lightning-to-micro-usb-adapter/

 

[Rocketman]

As hchung pointed out last night:

• Gobi is just the marketing name for Qualcomm's world comm chipsets, and
• their ads with ATMs etc are only about replacing landline connections with cellular modems.

That's all. It has nothing to do with replacing NFC. It's about using their cell chips in gas/electric meters and billboards and rural ATMs and other such locations where remote control/reading would be handy.

As i posted in the quoted message:

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

Apple is going to lean toward using all existing wireless standards to get users to use apps in Apple devices (and compatible other devices) to use payment gateways they lean toward. What we learned in this interview is that NFC isn't one of them for Apple and Apple wants to dominate the world handheld device market.

I said in another thread:

So Apple, the leader in micropayments will soon release payment HARDWARE in iPhones, iPads, iPodTouches which means it will be trivial for vendors to also add an iPodTouch as a payment gateway RECEIVER. Apple will be dominant on both ends of mobile and fixed point payment systems. It is a small step to become the gateway provider as well such as is the case with Square (2.75%), Google Wallet (2.5%), and all the Verifone vendors. What's next, an Apple credit card and bank, headquartered in UT, USA, Brazil, Shanghai, and St. Petersburg? Just a matter of time.

Now I don't know how right I am, but I know Apple wants to make frictionless payments a worldwide standard.

Rocketman

----------

You keep referring to NFC as if it's only good for payments.

There are so many use cases for NFC.

1. How about touching your phone to a movie poster on the wall to find out where the closest theater is playing the movie.

2. How about touching your phone to the hotel registration desk so you don't have to fill out their paperwork

3. How about touching your phone to a box of cereal to instantly get a coupon when you check out

4. How about an NFC tag in your wallet so you immediately know it was pick-pocketed

5. How about the ability to turn on lights or adjust other devices based on proximity.

NFC is not just about payments. And these are just a few of millions of ways NFC or NFC tagging could be utilized.

1. A photo of it would do the same thing using the recognition software demonstrated with Google glasses.

2. The Apple maps app demonstrated yesterday knows where you are in a store as well as a city, so could offer using the passport app that feature.

3. There is an app that reads the UPC and gives you a price, so one option is to have it also offer coupons and nutritional info and recall info and others.

4. As compared to what?

5. See #2

All your ideas require something on the other side to cope with it. Apple should sell devices and software for both sides of the transactions you list and others. Let adoption be organic.

Rocketman

 

[samcraig]

As i posted in the quoted message:
Apple is going to lean toward using all existing wireless standards to get users to use apps in Apple devices (and compatible other devices) to use payment gateways they lean toward. What we learned in this interview is that NFC isn't one of them for Apple and Apple wants to dominate the world handheld device market.

I said in another thread:
Now I don't know how right I am, but I know Apple wants to make frictionless payments a worldwide standard.

Rocketman

----------



1. A photo of it would do the same thing using the recognition software demonstrated with Google glasses.

2. The Apple maps app demonstrated yesterday knows where you are in a store as well as a city, so could offer using the passport app that feature.

3. There is an app that reads the UPC and gives you a price, so one option is to have it also offer coupons and nutritional info and recall info and others.

4. As compared to what?

5. See #2

All your ideas require something on the other side to cope with it. Apple should sell devices and software for both sides of the transactions you list and others. Let adoption be organic.

Rocketman

All of your exclusions require manual responses beyond just tapping your phone or holding it up. They require opening an app. They also rely on wifi or bluetooth (mostly) which require pairing. Inefficient compared to NFC which doesn't. Also using the camera is a battery drain.

Why does Apple need to sell software for both sides of the transaction. You WANT Apple to have that "monopoly." Apple doesn't need to sell the backend. NFC won't ever be ubiquitous if anyone who wants to use it has to run Apple software or integrate with an Apple App on their end. Talk about making things more complicated.

Paraphrasing Apple and Steve Jobs - A customer doesn't care how - they just want things to work. Organic is the word you used

I understand what you're saying. I just think you're thinking of ways to negate NFC as practical just because you don't think you'd use it. If you look at what you're writing it's clear your solutions are more steps, use more power and uses older tech. That's not progress.

P.S. my "ideas" are not mine per se. Many of these are already in practice.

 

[bjornw]

Total BS.

It works in Iceland.

Did you look at both GSM models available?

iPhone 5 supports 2100, 1800 and 850 MHz. Sweden uses 800, 900 and 2600 MHz for 4G. It will only work on the 3G net.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

 

[DMinTX]

I suspect that Apple will not use NFC and will instead use an optical approach. The shop keeper or taxi cab carries an optical scanner and when you pay the bill you display the necessary information in a code on the display, kind of like the mobile device boarding passes we use now.

Wouldn't that just be a QR reader and Passport?

 

[AppleHater]

There is no void - and it isn't the point. NFC has some real uses and it is out there, my point is that Schiller is plain wrong about it. It's not enough to make it a deal-breaker but I would like to have seen it in the iPhone because I want to get rid of my credit cards, tokens and subway passes. And I would have liked it in the iPhone because i despise Windows Phone and Android build quality and user experience.

Wait until Schiller has something to show us about NFC. It'll be the most important thing in the world.

 

[MagnusF]

iPhone 5 supports 2100, 1800 and 850 MHz. Sweden uses 800, 900 and 2600 MHz for 4G. It will only work on the 3G net.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

Well you said this

No 4G support in Sweden (or any European country except for Germany and UK). That means no iPhone 5 for me.

Iceland uses 800/1800 for 4G when it comes out. So indeed some other countries will have the iPhone 5 working with LTE

 

[MuppetGate]

Wait until Schiller has something to show us about NFC. It'll be the most important thing in the world.

I'm not sure he will.

Bluetooth 4.0 supports a low power mode that will allow a device such as a pedometer to run for a year on a single coin-sized battery.

And it also supports one-tap pairing/syncing, which means Bluetooth 4.0 already gives you Near Field Communication

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57389687-94/the-power-of-bluetooth-4.0-itll-change-your-life/

It's quite possible that Apple didn't include a dedicated NFC chip because they didn't need one.

 

[damitssam]

Update what was, by all reviews I've seen, already the best smart phone camera available? The new features this time were on the software side, namely stills from video, and panorama.

We're already getting to the point where more megapixels only matter if you're making poster-size prints. It's not like photography professsionals are using their phone cameras for their work, shooting in RAW and needing to take 18 MP+ images so they can crop hi-res sections of their images that end up still being 8 MP when cropped. If they were, you might have a point.

----------



This.

Yes, at the time of release it was the best camera phone by far. These days not even close. Lumia 808 had a 41 megapixel camera. The optimus G is coming out with a 13. The lumia 920 will have an 8 MP but with "floating lens" aka actual hardware stabilization.

At the very mininum apple should have implemented the new sony sensors. No innovation without jobs cause they know they can get away with it (anyone who is an apple "fan" will just buy it) and increase their profit margins.

This is why the last 2 releases of the iphone have slowly declined into minor updates. Cause the market data shows, whatever Apple bothers to release, people will buy it.

Apple is going the way of the old microsoft in terms of complacency. If they want to keep their edge, they need to do better than this.

 

[verniesgarden]

the iPhone not having NFC, is the best thing to happen to NFC... because people are talking about NFC

 

[Irishman]

Yes, at the time of release it was the best camera phone by far. These days not even close. Lumia 808 had a 41 megapixel camera. The optimus G is coming out with a 13. The lumia 920 will have an 8 MP but with "floating lens" aka actual hardware stabilization.

At the very mininum apple should have implemented the new sony sensors. No innovation without jobs cause they know they can get away with it (anyone who is an apple "fan" will just buy it) and increase their profit margins.

This is why the last 2 releases of the iphone have slowly declined into minor updates. Cause the market data shows, whatever Apple bothers to release, people will buy it.

Apple is going the way of the old microsoft in terms of complacency. If they want to keep their edge, they need to do better than this.

Bulldust! Do you know why? Because everyone but you seems to know that those higher MPs can't be resolved by human vision on a smart phone or HD display!

Secondly, you're touting the Lumia 920's hardware stabilization (great on paper, but we don't know how well it will be implemented, as it's not available yet), and hate on them as much as you might, Apple doesn't halfass their smartphone cameras. Not having changed the sensors doesn't mean Apple didn't innovate. It means Apple didn't innovate the sensors.

That's all.

Next?

 

[notabadname]

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.

You make a long point. But you put the chicken before the egg. Saying that Apple should include the tech, so eventually all the hotels will install the capability doesn't do much good today. I work for an airline, and stay at hotels half my life. Zero hotels have that capability. It would take years for them to add it. Plus, that one cable also works in my car (or do you suggest all car manufacturers should also install wireless charging in their cars). Also, at most airports, you have electrical plugs/towers between chairs. Should we set up the wireless charger and leave our phone laying on it in our lap as we try to make that last call before our flight? Many of us use our devices while charging, such as in bed, and reading or texting while charging. I can also easily move the 2 inch cube charger to different locations, more easily than the wireless charging pad. Wireless charging is a Nifty tech, but it is putting "neat" over human factors and practicality.

 

[Analog Kid]

You are wrong.

Sorry, digit slip. Lumia 820. The point remains-- wireless charging is commonly implemented as a case add on, and there's nothing preventing someone from doing that here.

 

[Sixtafoua]

I assume he means the part that connects to the computer, which is currently USB2. And not proprietary.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD818ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable

Sure, but presumably, the USB end could be updated to USB 3 without reworking the entire connector. (remember that the first 30-pin iPod connector used firewire)

 

[MuppetGate]

All of your exclusions require manual responses beyond just tapping your phone or holding it up. They require opening an app. They also rely on wifi or bluetooth (mostly) which require pairing. Inefficient compared to NFC which doesn't. Also using the camera is a battery drain.

Bluetooth 4.0 supports single-tap pairing and transmission. It can also be left running all the time with very little drain on the battery.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You make a long point. But you put the chicken before the egg. Saying that Apple should include the tech, so eventually all the hotels will install the capability doesn't do much good today. I work for an airline, and stay at hotels half my life. Zero hotels have that capability.

Zero (name anything anywhere) have anything for the new port but that didn't stop Apple from building it anyway. And most people around the world will not be able to use LTE but that didn't stop Apple from building that in. Whole countries won't be able to use LTE. Why does this kind of argument only go one way?

It would take years for them to add it.

Maybe, but now it will take a year + 1 if Apple decides to build it into iPhone 5s or a year + 2 if Apple decides to build it into iPhone 6. Had it made it into "5", it might get here 1 year sooner.

It took them time to get wifi too but they didn't put in wifi first and then it was built into computing devices. It was in computing devices first and enough travelers asked for that amenity motivating more and more of them to adopt wifi. Personally, I won't even stay at a hotel that doesn't offer it. It's as important to me as having a bed in the room.

Plus, that one cable also works in my car (or do you suggest all car manufacturers should also install wireless charging in their cars).

No, including this feature doesn't exclude the wired option. It's not an either-or option. People happy with carrying wires & bricks could keep carrying wires & bricks. The want is about added convenience (when one encounters an option to charge the new way, they can leave the wire & brick in their bag; if it could become broadly available in places we frequent (like wifi is becoming) maybe we could eventually leave the wires & brick at home and not worry about keeping a charge.

Also, at most airports, you have electrical plugs/towers between chairs. Should we set up the wireless charger and leave our phone laying on it in our lap as we try to make that last call before our flight?

See last answer (it's not an either-or).

But since you bring it up, here's what I experience at airports: a row of plugs all occupied by others charging their stuff. When the sockets are full, there are no options for charging except waiting for one socket to open. Replace the sockets with a flat commercial charging plane(s) and more devices could be charging.

I understand the passion to argue pro-Apple: whatever Apple decides is golden. When Apple flips, the flip is golden too. I get it.

I could come up with a bunch of reasons why LTE inclusion doesn't make sense, why the new connector change doesn't make sense, and on and on too.

But again, these are just some other features that some people wish were in the "5"... NOT at the expense of however YOU like to use your phone now, but as ADDED UTILITY. No one is arguing about taking features away from someone like you to include these missing features for them. No one is arguing for doing away with wires & bricks or doing away with credit cards & cash.

It's just a few other features some wish were included in this "5". What's stating such wishes here get you? An almost endless barrage of arguments why having wishes for added utility makes no sense, "is stupid", and on and on... until, of course, Apple rolls out those features... and then they make perfect sense, "can't wait to upgrade", "that's so cool", "magical", "shut up and take my money", etc.

 

[Flux.Capacitor]

You keep referring to NFC as if it's only good for payments.

There are so many use cases for NFC.

How about touching your phone to a movie poster on the wall to find out where the closest theater is playing the movie.

How about touching your phone to the hotel registration desk so you don't have to fill out their paperwork

How about touching your phone to a box of cereal to instantly get a coupon when you check out

How about an NFC tag in your wallet so you immediately know it was pick-pocketed

How about the ability to turn on lights or adjust other devices based on proximity.

NFC is not just about payments. And these are just a few of millions of ways NFC or NFC tagging could be utilized.

Samcraig, I just came across this article on Bluetooth 4.0. Seems most of those things you mentioned could be done with BT4 but without needing to "tap". I still think apple is not abandoning mobile payments, they are just going a different route.

http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu/2012/06/05/the-possibilities-of-bluetooth-4-0/

 

[samcraig]

Samcraig, I just came across this article on Bluetooth 4.0. Seems most of those things you mentioned could be done with BT4 but without needing to "tap". I still think apple is not abandoning mobile payments, they are just going a different route.

http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu/2012/06/05/the-possibilities-of-bluetooth-4-0/

I read that too.

A different route is ok - but could lead to fragmentation and adoption issues. Apple, however, usually takes the stance that it's their way or no way. So we'll see. It's unfortunate that they decided against NFC in this version of the Iphone as it only pushes back the adoption rate potential.