Josh OngA report by Forbes blogger Elizabeth Woyke on Friday has countered a recent report from The Independent that denied rumors of wireless NFC technology in Apple's next generation iPhone. The Independent claimed earlier this week that Apple had disclosed to "several" mobile operators in the U.K. its alleged decision to abandon plans to include the feature in the so-called iPhone 5.
According to Woyke, "an entrepreneur who is working on a top-secret NFC project" cited a friend who works at Apple to assert that the iPhone 5 will have NFC contactless capabilities. The entrepreneur also told Woyke that manufacturers of NFC readers expect Apple's next smartphone to have NFC and are gearing up for "the additional NFC traffic the iPhone 5 will bring, likely this summer."
Woyke acknowledged The Independent's claims, noting that many had been "surprised" by the report. The U.K. publication had cited "the lack of a clear standard" as Apple's reason for allegedly delaying the feature.
However, Woyke affirmed her faith in the credibility of her source, in spite of the on-again, off-again nature of the report. "I trust this source and know he has connections in the NFC market because of his own project," she wrote.
In January, Richard Doherty, director of the consulting firm Envisioneering Group claimed that Apple planned to start its own retail-based mobile payment service as early as mid-2011. It should be noted, however, that Doherty erroneously predicted that Apple would add an NFC chip to the iPad 2.
AppleInsider discovered in January that Apple was looking to hire a test engineer with experience in near-field communications, namely RFID.
Last month, Germany's Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile, fueled speculation even more when it mentioned Apple during a presentation on e-wallet payment systems.
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31 Comments
I hope NFC isn't "the" feature of the next iPhone. i like the idea, but support from vendors might be scant in the beginning.
Hmmm, so how does Apple's 30 percent cut come into play?
<sarcasm>
On the heels of a recent report downplaying rumors that the next iPhone will include wireless near-field communication technology, one report has reignited speculation with the news that NFC industry insiders still believe the iPhone 5 will carry the feature....
Actually, ALL of these reports could be true if we just assume that Apple is coming out with it's own standard. The reports of it *not* being included didn't actually say the hardware wasn't ready, just that Apple didn't like the various competing standards available.
According to Woyke, "an entrepreneur who is working on a top-secret NFC project" cited a friend who works at Apple to assert that the iPhone 5 will have NFC contactless capabilities.
That's quite a few degrees of separation.
RFID adoption in the international market is really a chicken and egg case. RFID isn't really a feature that drives adoption unless you can use it in a number of places. And it's not likely to be available in a number of places unless it's widely adopted.
But we know Apple are setting up a number of other features in their devices which are not necessarily immediately useful but will probably become very useful in the future when market penetration is higher (Facetime and Thunderbolt come to mind).
If RFID does come now it will probably part of coordinated strategy by Apple to expand utility gradually over time. Currently none of Apple's own products would be able to interact with it. And Of course Apple could use it for enhancing wireless security iPhone 5 to iPhone 5 for certain things like sharing contact information between devices in a similar manner to the "bump" app.
I guess it will all depend on the cost and space requirements of the RFID chips in the short term and whether Apple is targeting iPhone 3GS users or iPhone 4 users with this update.
Casting aside the whole friend of a friends boyfriends cousins girlfriend was at 31 flavors stuff, I think it is possible for both reports to be true. Apple coud be including NFC but for limited uses and not yet as a dump all your plastic e wallet gig.