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Apple's NFC Ambitions Extend Beyond Apple Pay to Building Security, Transit Ticketing

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple is pushing NFC in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus for Apple Pay, but the company may have bigger plans for the wireless technology beyond mobile payments. A report from The Information claims Apple has been in talks with technology providers about using NFC for building security access and public transit ticketing.
The Apple representatives have talked to technology providers like HID Global and Cubic, which enable secure access to buildings and transit fare systems, respectively, said people briefed on the discussions. Spokespeople for the companies declined to comment about any discussions with Apple, but executives there discussed how they could integrate their systems with the iPhone.
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Apple debuted NFC in its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and is using the short-range wireless technology for mobile payments processing.The technology has wide-ranging applications beyond payments, including a replacement for office and hotel security cards, home automation processes and more.

Besides the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple has also included an NFC chip in the new iPad Air 2 and Retina iPad Mini 3 to provide secure element of Apple Pay information for in-app purposes on those devices. Future iterations of the device, could however, add antennas and other components to enable NFC functionality for a variety of purposes.

Article Link: Apple's NFC Ambitions Extend Beyond Apple Pay to Building Security, Transit Ticketing
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/27/nfc-public-transit-security/
would like to use my iPhone to enter my work rather than the HID Card.

that way I can keep holding my phone and not need to switch to the wallet.
 
I know the MTA in NYC has publicly stated interest in using NFC/personal devices to replace the MetroCard by 2019, so this seems like a good fit.
 
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This would be the bees knees, especially for transit. Imagine not having to buy a proprietary transit card card for every city you're in. Just hold your phone up and the fare is paid. Genius.
 
Bring it on! Apple was late to the party but they can bring a ton of goodies for everyone at the party to enjoy.
 
I hope when implemented you have the option of turning off touchID for transit turnstyles just to speed things up. Just pass the phone over the surface as you're walking and you're let through.
 
avanpelt said:
Bring it on! Apple was late to the party but they can bring a ton of goodies for everyone at the party to enjoy.
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others came early to the party but Apple is the one that get the party started. Others are "chit-chat " while waiting for Apple to come to the party.
 
This would continue to push apple ahead of Android and force google to follow. I would absolutely love this.
 
I wonder if the building security will not only work for offices, but for homes? What if the next big thing for HomeKit is door locks with NFC?
 
So, now NFC is the big thing in Apple's cosmos.
Why?
I think they had to work on all that stuff, Apple Pay, transit ticketing, etc. for a long time not just one year, right?
Or did Apple decided in January 2014 that NFC could be useful for the above mentioned ideas?!

Therefore my question: Why wasn't NFC included in the iPhone 5s?
They knew that NFC will be needed in a future iPhone (and "future" here is defined as one year). So, why not including it??

I really love this company, truly I do. Steve and Apple shaped me and how I think about life and about my career path since I am 10 (1994).
But right now, Apple is playing games with its customers and I don't like it.
I can remember 1997 so I never criticised Apple's high margins. I am always happy when they crush the competition.

But, there are loyal customers guys like you and me that pay the higher price because we love Apple (in the past when they were small and now, ruling the industry) we know that the products are worth it but looking on this behaviour (also the iPad Mini update) makes me feel bad.
Right now, Apple doesn't treat their customers with respect.
 
SurfaceAndIPad said:
Maybe they should worry about getting apple pay to be accepted at local drugstores first
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That's like telling Apple they should fix the United States' health care system, just because they have the Health app. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
 
I've been tossing around the idea of how awesome it would be for a replacement for the ORCA card here in the Seattle area based on smartphone NFC technology for a while now.

This would excite me greatly. Especially if I didn't even have to manually add funds, and the two-hour transfers carried over to that type of system.
 
SurfaceAndIPad said:
Maybe they should worry about getting apple pay to be accepted at local drugstores first
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They have the country's largest pharmacy chain as an official Apple Pay partner, and CurrentC looks like it will be a giant failure whe it finally debuts. And all this brouhaha in the press has been priceless advertising for Apple and Walgreens as well.

I don't think Apple is worried.
 
HangmanSwingset said:
I've been tossing around the idea of how awesome it would be for a replacement for the ORCA card here in the Seattle area based on smartphone NFC technology for a while now.

This would excite me greatly. Especially if I didn't even have to manually add funds, and the two-hour transfers carried over to that type of system.
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London has recently introduced not only the use of contactless/NFC payment on all transport but it also can cap the amount spent so that you never go over the cost of a travel card:

Ie. Say a weekly travel card is £35.00. If you travel £30 worth on Monday, then £5 on Tuesday you will get free travel for the rest of the week.

Of course with Apple Pay this will need to be altered to occur (presumably so that the caps can happen they need to know who you are) but it's something that I can see Apple working with given the huge public transport network here.
 
Jeremy1026 said:
That's like telling Apple they should fix the United States' health care system, just because they have the Health app. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
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They actually led them to water and they drank it. Then they spit it out saying, we're digging our own well that may be ready to provide water next year...sometime...hopefully the water will be drinkable, but we won't know until then.
 
Yawn. This is nothing new. Apple should have been doing this NFC stuff at least three to four years ago, about the same time when the rest of the industry was doing it.

Its a shame too because I really hoped Apple would position themselves at the forefront of NFC technology. Right now, they're still at the back. And has locked it down much more than everyone else for no real reason.
 
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