Apple Hints At Near-Field Payments System In Next-Gen iPhone, iPad

An anonymous reader writes "The smartphone seems to be well on its way to becoming the next wallet; and Apple could be pushing that movement along. Reports from several outlets suggest the Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics giant has plans to put a near-field communications chip in the next versions of the iPhone and iPad for contactless payments technology. The latest report, from blog Apple Insider, says Apple has put up two job postings for two global payment platforms managers."

Comments

I'll bite

[laffer1]

Why do I want this? I'm more than willing to get a piece of plastic out of my wallet or on my keychain to pay for something. I can't wait for the hack that lets people walk by you and get you to pay for things. It's bad enough credit cards have RFID tags in them now. I don't need my phone doing it too.

Re:I'll bite

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

It's bad enough credit cards have RFID tags in them now. I don't need my phone doing it too.

I disagree, although I think we share some common ground. I just received my first credit card with an RFID embedded. I don't like it because in order to "turn it off" I have to wrap it in tinfoil. Thus, I do want NFP. With my phone, I can actually run an app and (assuming a reasonable interface) only turn on its ability to do payments when I want to use it. It removes a security risk (or at least changes it from a risk from anyone who is near me to a risk from anyone who can remotely hack into my device and extract and decrypt info.

cost?

[green1]

My carrier recently rolled out a phone based payment system, I was asked to be part of the trial. I declined.

They want me to spend $1.50 per transaction to use it. I can use my debit card for free, I can use cash for free, and my visa card actually pays me to use it, why on earth would I want to give my carrier $1.50 for each transaction? I don't pay bank fees, they already get the privilege of using my money while it's in their care, I refuse to pay money to get access to it.

Apple as a bank

[Animats]

"Near-field" isn't the issue. It's that Apple wants to be a payment processor, handling payments through iTunes and skimming off part of the transaction.

We need a crackdown on payment systems run by non-banks. PayPal is generally agreed to be terrible at handling problems and acts irresponsibly with the money of others. Most of PayPal's competitors are worse. Payment systems need to be run only by companies subject to regulation as banks.

Re:Can the chip be removed or disabled?

[icebike]

Sorry, its too late tow worry about it being only an Apple thing.

The Nexus S phone already has NFC already. Apple is definitely behind on NFC. Google already has a processing consortium set up with Barclay's and credit card clearing houses to handle the payments.

You can always turn it off and carry your less secure credit cards, or vastly less secure cash.