Apple Locks iPhone 6/6+ NFC To Apple Pay Only

Ronin Developer writes From the Cnet article: "At last week's Apple event, the company announced Apple Pay — a new mobile payments service that utilizes NFC technology in conjunction with its Touch ID fingerprint scanner for secure payments that can be made from the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch. Apple also announced a number of retailers that would accept Apple Pay for mobile payments at launch. However, Cult of Mac reports that NFC will be locked to the Apple Pay platform, meaning the technology will not be available for other uses. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the lock down of the technology, saying developers would be restricted from utilizing its NFC chip functionality for at least a year. Apple declined to comment on whether NFC capability would remain off limits beyond that period." So, it would appear, for at least a year, that Apple doesn't want competing mobile payment options to be available on the newly released iPhone 6 and 6+. While it's understandable that they want to promote their payment scheme and achieve a critical mass for Apple Pay, it's a strategy that may very well backfire as other other mobile payment vendors gain strength on competing platforms.

Comments

So much for mobile payments in Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

NFC technologies are already very well established here (you can wave your phone in front of a vending machine to purchase a drink!), and it's disappointing to see that iPhone users have at least a year to catch up with everybody else.

Re:Jailbreak

[cbhacking]

That NFC will be made available via jailbreak, I do not doubt.

That it will happen quite that *fast*, I do doubt. Apple has gotten really good at lockdown.

Note that Lockdown != Security. Security means preventing unauthorized access. If you can't even authorize *yourself* to get access, it's either not "security" or it's not your device (or both).

If you want NFC, go with Samsung, or HTC, or Nokia, or one of the many other phone OEMs who have been including NFC hardware and software that lets you use it for years now.

Nope they are clever

[thegarbz]

The mobile payment market is completely fragmented. Apple is by far not the first company to announce a payment scheme, however it is the first that has managed to make some concrete deals with several companies and it's the first that actually has a chance at taking off.

Apple has locked it down? So what? How is that any different from the last several years where competitors have had NFC and payment support? Why is the upcoming year suddenly going to backfire them right at a time where service providers will likely be questioning whether it's a good idea to promote a system which can't be used on Apple's much advertised phone?

I'm no fan of Apple, but you can't argue that they aren't strategically clever bastards.

Re:Nope they are clever

[Dahamma]

literally the only thing about applePay that stops it being an irrelevant me-to is that it is bundled with an apple device that companies know will sell by the container load.

No. It's that and the fact that they only released the feature after lining up a shit-ton of major retailers and banks to support it, as well as a near frictionless method of using it (w/ iTunes and Passbook, etc) and marketing to back it all up. The NFC part of it is practically incidental to the feature as a whole.

Sadly the Google NFC implementation will eventually be seen as the irrelevant version, even though it came out 2 years before Apple's... because they totally fucked up the UI, launch, and marketing, things Apple has nailed.

Re:Nope they are clever

[gnasher719]

You regularly use NFC for payments? You must be some kind of wizard.

In the UK, an awful lot of debit and credit cards are NFC enabled, and an awful lot of stores have NFC enabled terminals. For payment, you just hold your card against the terminal. Or just hold your wallet against the terminal; the only problem with that is when you have more than one NFC card, you can't control which one will be used (but it's guaranteed that only one payment will be taken).

Actually, I can use NFC payment in my company's canteen to pay for my lunch or breakfast, that's how common it is.

The limitation is that this only goes up to £20, because anyone stealing your wallet can use your card that way until the card is cancelled.

The difference with Apple Pay is that they can't use a stolen phone, there will likely be no limit because the payment is authenticated with your finger print, and nobody ever sees your debit or credit card number which avoids fraud.

Re:Nope they are clever

[MachineShedFred]

They don't have to interoperate, they just need to co-exist. Much like Visa and MasterCard.

Competition is a good thing.

Re:Jailbreak

[Anonymous Coward]

That NFC will be made available via jailbreak, I do not doubt.

That it will happen quite that *fast*, I do doubt. Apple has gotten really good at lockdown.

Note that Lockdown != Security. Security means preventing unauthorized access. If you can't even authorize *yourself* to get access, it's either not "security" or it's not your device (or both).

If you want NFC, go with Samsung, or HTC, or Nokia, or one of the many other phone OEMs who have been including NFC hardware and software that lets you use it for years now.

And I'm sure we'll all be very eager to make use of the third party mobile payment options made available for your jailbroken iPhone on Cydia, courtesy of a bunch of hackers you've never heard of before.

Re:Jailbreak

[cbhacking]

Also a valid point. I do a fair bit of phone hacking, but am very cautious about what I install from whom (it helps that I can decompile apps pretty well by now). Most people aren't, and somebody is going to want to take advantage of that.

Re: Jailbreak

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll throw in with old people. Young people today are garbage.

Re:Jailbreak

[rolfwind]

Oh wow, the "my corporate company brand is better than your corporate company brand" fight.

Re:Considering Republicans...

[Attila Dimedici]

What is most interesting is that the poster you replied to does not seem to realize that Republicans have not been in a position to stop banks from doing such things for almost six years now.

Re:Jailbreak

[Bing Tsher E]

It's mostly only the Apple enthusiasts who try to define that divide. Apple has always promoted the notion of an ' versus them' mentality. With the Apple customers,defined as a superior minority. That has been their strategy for decades.

The rest of us just use the equipment that seems most suitable and fits in our budget.

Re:Jailbreak

[Anonymous Coward]

And which banking company would release the necessary code / keys for a jb device to interface with their systems?

None, I suspect.

You MIGHT be able to use it for basic sharing - that requires no "special" code.

Re:Jailbreak

[stealth_finger]

Apple's notion is not "versus them", it's "versus good enough".

Android is good enough.

iOS is not.