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Apple isn’t one to adopt new tech just for the sake of it, and it looks like that’s not going to change anytime soon. The Cupertino company refused to use NFC for its Passbook app in iOS 6 due to the fact it’d sap the iPhone’s battery life, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But with the iPhone 5 due in October, will we see Apple’s own version of NFC incoming?
Paying for things with your mobile is yet to really take off, but expect it to become all the more common if Apple gets involved. The Wall Street Journal reports Apple started experimenting with various methods of mobile payments last year, at the same time as Google was rolling out its own version in the guise of Google Wallet.
Apple played around with NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy options, but it jacked in both due to the fact they’d rinse the device’s battery.
The fact hardly anyone uses NFC was also said to be an issue.
But Apple unveiled Passbook at WWDC as a major feature of iOS 6. And Passbook isn’t a million miles away from Google Wallet. So what’s the deal?
Well Apple being Apple it’s most probably working on its own alternative to NFC. It reportedly has over 400 million credit cards registered with iTunes, which sounds too good an opportunity to pass up. It also considered teaming up with existing payment services and profiting by taking tiny cuts of transactions made on an iPhone. This was reportedly known within Apple as the Superman III option, which suggests it wasn’t overly keen on the idea. Still, good to see those Cupertino boys have a sense of humour.
Would you like to see Apple’s own version of NFC? Or are its battery life worries unfounded? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
