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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.

3 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Re:NFC isn't used for just payment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Apple does realize that NFC isn't only used for payment systems, right? My camera can transfer pictures to a smart phone using NFC. It allows you to take high quality pictures of something and then post them straight to whatever social media you're using without going through a computer.

    Your phone's a computer. Why not just post straight from your camera?

    You can do all the other things you mention on an apple device without using NFC

  2. Laugh by koan · · Score: 1, Troll

    What asshole would trust Apple as a wallet?

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  3. Re:So much for mobile payments in Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    EMV existed long before SoftCard (formerly called ISIS)

    and if your account is empty they behead you! too topical?