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iphone 5 def will have to have a must buy to get this feature rules just like how apple did the iphone 4 with cam light and 4s with siri. so yea we def getting a new feature :)
 
sounds like a great convenience, but...

What happens if you lose your phone? How safe is your financial information if your phone gets into the wrong hands? How do we protect ourselves from thieves who have electronic devices that can steal the signals being sent to the cash register? A lot of what if's!!
 
This is possibly the most obvious news in the world today. Every other phone manufacturer is putting this technology in phones already and many consumer electronic manufacturers are already moving to add the tech to TVs and everything else. NFC is coming, its coming on the next iOS devices, its going to allow for the sync of stuff to the AppleTV and Passport is Apple's wallet.

These are all no-brainers at this point.

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What happens if you lose your phone? How safe is your financial information if your phone gets into the wrong hands? How do we protect ourselves from thieves who have electronic devices that can steal the signals being sent to the cash register? A lot of what if's!!

The effective range of NFC is measured in centimeters and the communication will be secured. If you are worrying about losing your phone, be more concerned about losing your wallet. An iOS device gone missing can be wiped or locked in minutes. Your credit cards in your wallet take a fair bit longer to work through the system.
 
As eager and willing as I am to run out and buy the next iPhone, and as much as I love technology, this type of thing still scares me when I think of where it'll probably lead to. I'm sure it won't be too long before these chips eventually work themselves into our bodies or are required by law, in the holy name of national security. Passport, driver license, health and vehicle insurance info, bank/credit accounts, medical records... all "conveniently" stored in one little chip, secured somewhere under your skin. It's coming. :rolleyes:

Good post. It's only coming because too many people blindly follow advertising and use things like this without thinking about consequences for a second.

"Ah well, all my actions are being monitored and profiled, but I don't care because it's so convenient and I don't want to use my brain." :rolleyes:
 
Well nobody can say that Apple stole NFC from Google, but Google "did it first" (as in, phone wallet) and Apple will be doing it now.

Which is a good thing.

This is not about "stealing", this is about driving technology forward, something that both Android and iPhone users should understand. Unfortunately Apple is not helping by frequently claiming "how everyone is copying from them", but that's just a narcissistic statement from a narcissistic company, we got loads of those.

So yeah, Google did it first like a lot of things that Apple is introducing lately, but who cares - it's good that Apple is introducing those features too. Good ideas should be promoted, not avoided for the sake of competition.

No idea why this is getting downvotes. It's extremely valid and something everyone should remember whether it's towards Apple, Microsoft, Google or whatever.

For example- NFC gaining traction and wider adoption is a win for the consumer because right now- in the US - there are very few places to even use NFC. There are strength in numbers. It's not always about one company vs another. Sometimes it's about forging ahead and moving a technology towards better adoption.
I was shocked I got so many downvotes, this only shows that there are too many blindly devoted Apple fans here that can't face the truth... My statement actually defends Apple from Android fans who claim Apple stole something, but it seems that unless I praise Apple as if they're the gods then nothing will be deemed acceptable by your regular Apple fanboy... Sad.
 
Well nobody can say that Apple stole NFC from Google, but Google "did it first" (as in, phone wallet) and Apple will be doing it now.

Which is a good thing.

This is not about "stealing", this is about driving technology forward, something that both Android and iPhone users should understand. Unfortunately Apple is not helping by frequently claiming "how everyone is copying from them", but that's just a narcissistic statement from a narcissistic company, we got loads of those.

So yeah, Google did it first like a lot of things that Apple is introducing lately, but who cares - it's good that Apple is introducing those features too. Good ideas should be promoted, not avoided for the sake of competition.

EDIT: WOW, -13 points, this proves that there's a lot off blindly devoted Apple fanboys here... I wrote a bit of truth that actually DEFENDS Apple and I get downvoted, way to go guys, give yourself a round of applause.

Dont be shocked. If you even hint that you have enough intelligence to not just blindly say, "Apple rulezzzzz, Android lame...." then they down vote you. It sucks, MacRumors is becoming like Engadget with unintelligent fanboys which can border on obnoxious. :(

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I was shocked I got so many downvotes, this only shows that there are too many blindly devoted Apple fans here that can't face the truth... My statement actually defends Apple from Android fans who claim Apple stole something, but it seems that unless I praise Apple as if they're the gods then nothing will be deemed acceptable by your regular Apple fanboy... Sad.

Yep, I feel ya man. I do. :(
 
--Passbook programming tools/code?

There have been a couple threads already talking about Passbook programming tools, utilities, code snippets, etc. that people are already cooking.

If anybody knows of new tools, I would like to hear about it. Playing with Passbook is just too much fun to "pass" up. :)
 
There is a huge worldwide focus within the financial community around mobile payment systems. With the competitions units well underway, Apple has some catching up to do if they want to be relevant in this space.

It appears that within just weeks to a few months the USA may be introduced to some of the payment system options that are already implemented in other parts of the world. From as far away as Sri Lanka, to as near as VISA in the USA, this promises to be a very interesting project to follow.

The new Galaxy S III has NFC embedded in every device they ship. It's such an important part of the phone, even those coming into the USA have it, yet Samsung disables it, due to the influence, power and legal control that the carriers have.

How Apple navigates around this hurdle will be interesting. If successful, it's a huge threat to the big three carriers. Word has it that Samsung is close to clearing the legal hurdles, and once it''s done, they will push out a software key to unlock NFC functionality within their handsets.

One thing's for certain, there is a rather silent yet frenetic push to see who's system grabs public acceptance and usage in the USA.

Apple employees are using an App and this site:
http://apple.passportlifestyle.com/
 
What happens if you lose your phone? How safe is your financial information if your phone gets into the wrong hands? How do we protect ourselves from thieves who have electronic devices that can steal the signals being sent to the cash register? A lot of what if's!!

This is actually safer than losing a credit card, since you can't use NFC for bigger payments and you usually have a daily limit. Moreover "thieves who have electronic devices that can steal the signals being sent to the cash register" (?) can't do much with NFC because of the secure protocol that is used for communication. Read about public-key cryptography, we've had secure ways of establishing communication between two nodes since the 70s.
 
If this story confirms NFC mobile payments, don't be surprised that the chipset that enables this is compatible with the Sony-developed FeliCa standard for NFC communications, which would make the next iPhone become THE device for mobile payments in Japan for transit tickets and convenience store purchases. And I wouldn't be surprised the NFC functionality will also work with the new ISIS mobile payment system being developed for the US market.

The NFC standard isn't just likely to be compatible. It will be compatible since Felica is one of the standards NFC is built on.

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This is RFID, not NFC

You're right that it's not officially NFC as the NFC Forum wasn't established yet at that time.

But those handsets a0me mentioned are compatible with NFC chipsets because NFC is built on that technology. And they implement the discussed features, so I'd say he's pretty much correct.

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I was shocked I got so many downvotes, this only shows that there are too many blindly devoted Apple fans here that can't face the truth... My statement actually defends Apple from Android fans who claim Apple stole something, but it seems that unless I praise Apple as if they're the gods then nothing will be deemed acceptable by your regular Apple fanboy... Sad.

You got downvoted because you're wrong. NTT DoCoMo did it first. Not Google.
 
Will be called Passbook Exchange

The payment app will be called Passbook Exchange, or something like that, remember Facebook Exchange and Phonebook Exchange?
 
finally the U.S. will catch up with Japan as far as NFC goes.

I've had PayPass for years.

Japan isn't always first with everything, they got Self Checkouts last :D..And the ones they DO have, are the same NCR ones we have here, with the same voices even, so much for innovation over there :D
 
This is RFID, not NFC
I just checked Wikipedia where it says that "NFC standards [...] are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa."

It's probably not the same but what's the difference for the average consumer?
 
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