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No Contactless Payment System In Next iPhone

Posted by timothy on from the we-want-you-to-touch dept.

RedEaredSlider writes "Citing fears over a lack of an industry standard, Apple has ditched plans to include near field communication technology in its next iPhone, The Independent reports. The technology, which allows users to make payments simply by waving their devices over special readers, is widely believed to be the next major step in both cell phone and payment technologies. Apple's decision to avoid it is a significant blow to its adoption."

9 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. it would make it too wide! by master_kaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can't have something in the device that would add 1 mm to the thickness!

    1. Re:it would make it too wide! by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I say thank God for this!!

      I seriously don't want something in my phone that hooks in any way into a payment system whether it digs directly into my checking account..or even a special one. Just a great way to get charged for money by a thief. I prefer to just carry cash most of the time.....I don't even like the ATM cards that are also debit cards, and have had to tell the bank I don't want one....only an ATM card, and they sent them to me...

      Aside from the privacy and security problems I have with it..do I REALLY need a new, overly convenient way to spend more fucking money?

      Hell...I'm trying to save for a house and retirement some day....I don't need more temptations to spend easy cash.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:it would make it too wide! by currently_awake · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you lose your wallet the cash is gone. If you lose your phone the thief can run up thousands of dollars in PHONE charges. If you lose your contactless payment device: the thief can spend till your daily limit, or until the police track him down by the built in gps, or until you remotely disable the device. Also there is no reason your phone couldn't have a passcode required to spend money or to spend over a transaction/daily limit. Given the choice the lost contactless payment device might very well be the cheaper theft.

  2. Extra Extra! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Funny

    Extra Extra! Apple may or may not be including something that has been previously rumored in their next iPhone! Won't somebody think of the children??

  3. Most Likely Reason by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apple hasn't figured a away to get fee's from sellers and customers yet.

    1. Re:Most Likely Reason by Goaway · · Score: 5, Informative

      Apple is the main patent holder in the MPEGLA group

      Wow, that's the most hilarious thing I've read all day.

      They hold ONE patent in the h.264 pool. Out of several hundred.

      Yup, that's a "main patent holder" all right.

  4. Has slashdot degenerated (further) by line-bundle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Has this become the official iPhone gossip site?

    Every too often an article like this comes which has no substance. It's not news for nerds, it doesn't matter.

  5. Re:Prediction by c0lo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Prediction: if there's no accepted standard within a year, Apple will create one. Further prediction: Slashdotters will universally hate it. The remaining 99.999% of the world will love it.

    Ah, what an relief for ATM-skimmers: no contact required, ISO standard doesn't yet specify any protection against man-in-the-middle. Even if it would be so, the communication is small in size and one can easily jam the receiver and force the attempt of the same transaction enough numbers of time to have a good base for a cryptographic attack... especially since part of the encrypted information is known (the total of the docket).

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  6. Re:Smart move... by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication#Standards [wikipedia.org]

    Just because Apple say there isn't a standard doesn't mean you have to blindly believe them.

    Then explain to us the "standard" process for something simple like.. securely purchasing a bottle of coke with a NFC device.

    Innnnnn.. Canada.
    No, Mexico.

    1. Bits are sent over the air from one NFC device to a receiver located at ???.
    2. ???
    3. Drink bottle of coke.