Apple Game Changing Digital Wallet Just Around the Corner?

Home > Featured > Google’s YouTube in Talks with Major Movie Studios > Twitter Mobile Grows by 60 Percent Since April 2010 > Novell Launches Innovative Cloud Security Service > Speculation Grows That Apple Is Pursuing Alternatives to AT&T > 3Par Bidding War Continues > Unified Communications and the Rules of Retention > Oracle names Mark Hurd President, HP Files Suit > Google Instant Makes the Search Experience Even Faster > HP Acquires 3Par with $2.4 B Bid > Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Manufacturing Release Launched > HP Offers $2 Billion for 3Par to Surpass Dell > Apple’s Ping Faces Challenges Ahead > Dell Claims 3Par OK’s New $1.6 Billion Bid > HP Tops Dell’s Bid For 3PAR with $1.6 Billion Offer > Apple Game Changing Digital Wallet Just Around the Corner?

Print This Page

Send to a Friend

Apple's Game Changing Digital Wallet Just Around the Corner?

Author: John Duckgeischel on August 20, 2010 - 11:27 AM

From recent moves by the company, it appears that Apple may be working on another iPhone based game changer. Apple has just hired Benjamin Vigier, a pioneer in developing near field communication (NFC) devices and systems. His prior job was product manager at mFoundry where he involve with the development of their innovative PayPal and Starbucks’ barcode centered mobile payment solutions and mobile wallet applications with a large U.S. bank. NFC technology allows consumer to transmit data over short distances to payment terminals and wireless devices. According to a TechCrunch report, Apple currently has testing under way for an “NFC-based mobile payments service that lets consumers make payments to merchants and other consumers" that works with credit and debit cards and iTunes accounts and iPhone options that will be known as iPay, iBuy and iCoupons. Apple’s development of the smart mobile payment solutions have progressed to the point where people have begun to speculate on when it will actually happen.

Although banks and wireless providers have experimented with the NFC technology, none have taken the step to bring it out as a mainstream offering. "The micropayment industry is one that is evolving quickly enough right now that it provides a lot of opportunities for Apple to step in," Charles King, principal analyst at IT research firm Pund-IT, stated to InternetNews.com. "Apple has been very effective at finding opportunities to be a disruptive influence in unsettled or fairly unconventional markets. With the iPod and iTunes, it turned the MP3 market on its head and had a similar impact on what people have come to expect from smartphone vendors." Apple has 150 million iTunes subscribers for its debit and credit cards, so the company already has some substantial momentum that it can build on. Some analysts have wondered if Apple will wait until the next major iPhone product or if it may possibly release the NFS technology sooner to stay ahead of the competition.