According to Wired Magazine, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has finally decided to hit the market of smart phone payments, although the company has not officially commented on this issue. Elizabeth MacDonald of Fox Business reported on the story just days ahead of Apple’s September 9 event, at which the company will release its iPhone 6 and this new technology might be the trademark feature of the device.
So how does this technology function? Well, it’s simple. The payment goes through by simply tapping your iPhone at the cash register. The Wired Magazine explains that the technology behind this feature is the pairing of Bluetooth and Near-field communication (NFC) wireless protocols. The user’s sensitive financial information is stored as a “secure element” on the phone’s hardware. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is finally all set to utilise the benefits of patents that it has been filing over the years relating to an e-wallet platform.
As far as the market outlook is concerned, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be entering it with a step ahead of its biggest rival, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which even though already has a similar feature on Samsung Galaxy 5 but, as MacDonald explained, it can only be used at the drug store giant Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG).
However, some technological hurdles will still have to be cleared before this new feature completely deems our credit cards useless. The biggest one is enabling all cash registers across to be compatible with such ‘tap payments’. Also mentioned in the Wired magazine’s article are Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iBeacons, Bluetooth Low Energy transmitters that will most likely be the way Apple goes forward in solving the cash register compatibility issue. MacDonald also pointed out that there are a lot of companies out there who are soon going to jump in on this mobile payments wagon. They include names like Visa Inc (NYSE:V), PayPal, and even the big telecom giants like AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).
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