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Tim Cook has been making a lot of statements recently. I'm a bit surprised with this announcement, given that Apple was (rumored) to be releasing NFC but backed out when credit companies refused their terms in taking a percentage of NFC sales.

NFC has been around for a long time in Japan, E.U., etc. and is used for more than payments. Infiniti is releasing all new vehicles lines this summer, and NFC will be implemented as an option for locking/unlocking doors, drivers' settings, etc. It's more secure than "blink" systems. Dateline (and other security experts) have shown it is easy to steal credit card data from "blink" cards. Readers are available online for ~$100, place one in a carry wallet and wave it near someone's purse or wallet. Copy that data onto something as simple as a hotel key, make a purchase (in one case, a couple thousand dollar purchases) and no one checked to verify the card. NFC is much more secure with a short transmit range.

NFC might be "in its infancy" in North America, but it has been around for a long time in many countries.
The first large scale NFC payment system should be the "Octopus card" of Hong Kong which was launched all the way back in 1997.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
 
In Canada over the last few years our debit and credit system has moved to chip cards from the traditional swipe and enter your pin. That means you insert your chip, wait 10 seconds or more and then choose your account, wait again, enter your pin and wait again. Now a lot of stores are rolling out NFC payment terminals. The systems have Visa PayWave, MasterCard PayPass and Interac Flash all in one. It saves a TON of time because you tap your card and you are done. Being able to do the same with your phone would be even easier. One less thing to carry in my pockets.
 
How are mobile payments in their infancy?
Recently, I was with my brother, who pulled out his phone at a grocery store, held it to the card swiper, paid and received a detailed receipt of the purchase within seconds.

Seems like it's more mature than say, my dumb iPhone.

Or you just pull out the credit card instead of the phone, which is actually easier to do. It's a novelty feature in North America right now. Sure it has a future for other uses (like car activation, which seems MUCH safer than a simple radio), but why jump ahead when NFC can easily be added once it's popular... besides to avoid trolls saying "d00d my Droid Epic had this like 10 years ago, n00b"?

Regardless, Tim Cook needs to shut up. Everything he says causes fear, partially because he's bad at saying it and shouldn't even need to say it anyway. "Is this the next Sculley?"

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There are like six different versions. So which one should Apple support. Because its not really their style to try to cover all of them.

Is it easy to cover them all, like how Quicktime Player covers all of the standard formats, or is it difficult like putting LTE and HSPA+ on the same phone?

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Huh, the iPhone has had this feature via the "bumb" app (or whatever its called) since the inception of the App Store.

"Bump" I think. I don't know the details, but it seems like NFC would be cleaner computer-wise but would require more careful planning to avoid a tacky add-on.
 
nfc & fingerprint scan

we're talking about a whole new level of security issues where your stolen iphone will be escorted by your severed thumb or index finger

Except that there will be ways to bypass, such as by the lifting the prints off of the button, molds, any number of things.
 
Bye bye iphone.. and getting droid based tablet is matter of a time.

Imac, I will continue to love.. but even laptop, virtualization is the key and I will no longer purchase mba.. I will look for cheap alternative w/ virtulization to get the job done.. It's sad but that's how things are going.. and Surely, cook does not know that.. he stupid..
 
That's right. NFC payments alive and well, and certainly NOT in it's infancy here in Australia. Paywave and Tap & Go from Visa and Mastercard available almost everywhere at major retailers, supermarkets and petrol (gas) stations.

Apple need to get with the times.

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Australia has about 23 million people. Let's say that 25% of the people there own an iPhone. That's fewer than 6 million people users, which is an insignificant number in the grand scheme of things.
 
Funny

When Apple wants to release a incipient technology it's revolutionary, when don't ... It's in his infancy.
 
Wallet app with square integrated i use quite frequently at coffee shops, I don't see many places (any?) that offer NFC in the United States anyway, I believe it is in the works as soon as Apple does release a full blown passbook app with NFC the ecosystem will make mobile payments incredibly popular.
 
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Huh, the iPhone has had this feature via the "bumb" app (or whatever its called) since the inception of the App Store.

Bump needs a server and location services to do it. NFC doesn't need nothing of that.

By the way, not only payments, NFC is used to presence checking, easy paring for BT or Wifi, it has a lot of use cases.
 
I presume, Apple is waiting until someone finds a kickasss solution which is better than NFC.

Remember the geniuous using the accelerometer of a macintoshs HDD the first time? He/she started the whole growth of motion sensors which helped for the iPhone's popularity so much.

For NFC, someone just needs to find out, that you can use for example an iPhone's unique wave distortion pattern to create a purely unique ID both identifying the iPhone and hence allowing the owner to securely connect to another iPhone for payment on will. Combine this with some kind of owner-recognition system which works without pulling the iPhone out of your pocket and you have a winner. It will work without a network, will be basically free, much faster, everyone will love it and there will be no need of existing and patented (costly) solutions.

Someone just needs to have the right idea.
 
NFC has been around for a long time in Japan, E.U., etc.

NFC might be "in its infancy" in North America, but it has been around for a long time in many countries.

Really? I havent seen it used anywhere. Granted, its built into all payment terminals where I live, but afaik, it hasnt been activated. I havent seen anyone use it for other purposes either. I think apple holding back on this is wise. We dont need phones filled with crap 1% of users will benefit from.
 
Smartphones were in their infancy too when the iPhone came out.

Not really, there were plenty of smartphones way before the iPhone came out they were just not as popular.

About NFC, in a way i agree there isn't much point in implementing it if you cannot solidly use it everywhere but what apple should of done is put it in the iPhone but left it be dormant and enable it when it is ready. Like how bluetooth was included in the apple TV but was disabled.

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Really? I havent seen it used anywhere. Granted, its built into all payment terminals where I live, but afaik, it hasnt been activated. I havent seen anyone use it for other purposes either. I think apple holding back on this is wise. We dont need phones filled with crap 1% of users will benefit from.

I agree i see some NFC terminals here and there at a few shops but they are all gathering dust.
 
Except that there will be ways to bypass, such as by the lifting the prints off of the button, molds, any number of things.

Some of the technology from the company Apple bought (blanking on name right now) seem pretty sophisticated. It can tell whether or not a real finger, and for that matter living finger) is being used. In other words, it is looking for more than just a print. But I doubt we will see this in any Apple products within the next couple of years anyway.

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Really? I havent seen it used anywhere. Granted, its built into all payment terminals where I live, but afaik, it hasnt been activated. I havent seen anyone use it for other purposes either. I think apple holding back on this is wise. We dont need phones filled with crap 1% of users will benefit from.

I bet a lot of users are enjoying their built in compass, voice memos, and lets not forget the lovely news stand apps. ;)

I don't know why people are calling this crap by the way. The chips are cheap and small (as thin as a sticker). They would be ridiculously easy to implement, from a tech and production standpoint, and would literally not effect those who don't care to use it in the slightest.
 
No, mobile payment is alive and well on other operating systems and in other countries. Apple is again behind.

Apple is not behind. Apple knows very well that mobile payments are reality and that they will have to get aboard.

The problem for Apple is that they haven't found the way to monetize mobile payments (aka... get a cut for every transaction) because Apple might have a high capital value but they don't have the power of financial markets to change anything.
So basically Apple is stuck on whether to implement a technology that won't give them anything and will actually help others make money or not doing and claiming all kind of crap :D
 
In Canada over the last few years our debit and credit system has moved to chip cards from the traditional swipe and enter your pin. That means you insert your chip, wait 10 seconds or more and then choose your account, wait again, enter your pin and wait again. Now a lot of stores are rolling out NFC payment terminals. The systems have Visa PayWave, MasterCard PayPass and Interac Flash all in one. It saves a TON of time because you tap your card and you are done. Being able to do the same with your phone would be even easier. One less thing to carry in my pockets.

Yeah, lord knows debit cards are so thick and heavy.

I foresee a lot more dropped iPhones as people fish into their pockets for them while paying.
 
Australia has about 23 million people. Let's say that 25% of the people there own an iPhone. That's fewer than 6 million people users, which is an insignificant number in the grand scheme of things.

What? I'm confused about what you're trying to say.

What about in Asia, where NFC is also widely used? Enough population for you?

If you're anti NFC, cool. Don't use it. A lot of people think it would be useful.
I'm one of them.

For Tim cook to say that NFC is in it's infancy is just ignorant. Outside of his country, it's widely embraced. HTC and Samsung (and others) seem to recognise this.

Apple? They need to get their head out of the sand (their ###).

.
 
The whole system needs overhauling. At the moment chip and pin is painfully slow and long winded. I can't believe we're still here in 2013 and I have to sit tapping my fingers in restaurants and supermarkets while we wait for the payment to go through.

Contactless payments are the future, but like electric cars there is no infrastructure (in the UK at least). I think only McDonalds do contactless here, and it just seems to be being pushed by Barclays Bank and nobody else.

If Mastercard and Visa want separate systems, it's just going to end up like another Bluray v HDDVD.
 
Yeah, lord knows debit cards are so thick and heavy.

I foresee a lot more dropped iPhones as people fish into their pockets for them while paying.

It's bit about a debit card being thick and heavy. It's about convenience. It can also potentially be more secure. You lose your wallet or it is stolen, the new owner has a shopping spree. Lose your phone, assuming proper security is in place, there is no such risk.

Sure, I suppose this increases the risk of a droppd phone. So does doing just about anything on your phone though, versus jeeping it tucked away, so I feel like the point is moot.
 
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