New iPhone Prototypes Have Integrated NFC chips and Antenna

zacharye writes "Apple's next-generation iPhone will feature an integrated NFC chip according to a new report, suggesting the Cupertino, California-based company may soon make its entrance into the mobile payment space. A report from 9to5Mac states that an analysis of code from Apple's latest iOS software includes references to an integrated NFC chip and antenna."

Comments

Insane!

[Haxagon]

The Apple smartphone will finally have feature-parity with other smartphones one-to-two generations after the fact? This must have never happened before!

Re:Insane!

[iluvcapra]

NFC isn't a feature, use-anywhere mobile payments is a feature. NFC+Google Wallet doesn't deliver use-anywhere.

Delivering universal mobile payments is not a technology problem, it's a business problem.

Re:Insane!

[TummyX]

Rushing to market with a feature that's barely functional or usable is not Apple's usual style. At least I have confidence that NFC integration into iPhones is not going to be next to useless like it is on other phones.

Re:Fun!

[viperidaenz]

If you can already load arbitrary code to an iPhone via a wifi injection attack then there are bigger problems than NFC (which has been in android since 2.3 and is already seeing commercial use, way to lead the market Apple...)

How you integrate also counts as innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

Badly implemented features that are first to market are often less important than implementing the feature correctly.

An example is the iPod. The click wheel and master/slave method of managing music was, in the terminology of biology, an overwhelmingly successful adaptation. The MP3 player market effectively ceased to exist. There was just the iPod market. What they did was make it really, really, really, really easy to play your music. Creative Zen, on the other hand, added buttons. And more buttons. And more buttons.

Thus making it harder to use the key feature.

So yes, how you include a feature counts a lot.

Re:How you integrate also counts as innovation

[jo_ham]

So in your mind a set of buttons arranged in a circle is "the same" as a rotating disc that is used to navigate a menu on a screen?

I can see your problem!

Of course, you left out the fact that the Diamond Rio also stole the idea from the automobile, which also has circular design features and buttons.

On a serious point, you're attributing "Apple fan hype" to a product that pretty much reignited Apple (along with the iMac). When the iPod came out no one cared about Apple or their small user and fan base. You're thinking about what they're like now and applying that to the era when the iPod came out - there was no "giant devoted fanbase" fawning over "the next insanely great thing" - there was just a small (admittedly devoted) fanbase who stuck with them through the dark years. It certainly wasn't those tiny minority who propelled the iPod into the stratosphere. It was a genuinely much better product to use (but not technically - there were other players with better sound quality) and it sold like hot cakes, especially when it was released in a Windows compatible format.

There weren't any "suckers" when the iPod came out - Apple's fanbase was almost non existent through years of circling the drain.

Re:Follow the leader

[jo_ham]

Yes, except the crucial difference is Apple is going with a standard for a change (unlike Google's original implementation).

And I know it's a tired old meme, but Apple rarely thinks of anything first. The reason that they're so successful is that they are very effective at judging what the consumer wants, and refining things that already exist but could be easier to use/more fun/more refined (all in one computer, portable music player, tablet computer, smartphone etc).