A while ago, there was a lot of buzz over the Internet about Apple’s plans related to what we know now as iPhone 4S. Some of the rumors pointed in the direction of Near Field Technology (NFC) but the most prudent analysts believed that there was not the right time for Apple to integrate in its iPhones a technology for which the market wasn’t ready. However, next year might be the right time to see an iPhone 5 with NFC support. Such a situation would not only be probable, but very close to a certainty.
DigiTimes, the Taiwanese technology website that is always quoting anonymous sources from inside Apple’s supply chain, suggests that Apple has in the works a next generation iPhone that integrates NFC technology. Not only that, but according to DigiTimes, if Apple would somehow miss this trend it would be a serious strategic error for the Cupertino based company.
Competitors like Samsung Electronics, HTC, Nokia and RIM already released top end smartphones featuring NFC technology. Moreover, powerful carriers from around the world, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Korea Telecom, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile and China United Network Communications, will bring this technology to the main stream very soon. Currently, only 10% of the smartphones enable NFC but, according to DigiTimes predictions, in the next two years more than half of the smartphones on the market will adopt the technology.
Apple is not expected to take the back seat allowing the competitors to get so much ahead. Particularly when Apple is sitting on a gold mine that could give a serious competitive edge to an e-payment application for an NFC enabled iPhone. Just think of those 200 million iTunes accounts with credit card information that Apple always bragged about but never knew how to turn them into a profit. This could be the beginning of an iWallet app.
DigiTimes, the Taiwanese technology website that is always quoting anonymous sources from inside Apple’s supply chain, suggests that Apple has in the works a next generation iPhone that integrates NFC technology. Not only that, but according to DigiTimes, if Apple would somehow miss this trend it would be a serious strategic error for the Cupertino based company.
Competitors like Samsung Electronics, HTC, Nokia and RIM already released top end smartphones featuring NFC technology. Moreover, powerful carriers from around the world, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Korea Telecom, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile and China United Network Communications, will bring this technology to the main stream very soon. Currently, only 10% of the smartphones enable NFC but, according to DigiTimes predictions, in the next two years more than half of the smartphones on the market will adopt the technology.
Apple is not expected to take the back seat allowing the competitors to get so much ahead. Particularly when Apple is sitting on a gold mine that could give a serious competitive edge to an e-payment application for an NFC enabled iPhone. Just think of those 200 million iTunes accounts with credit card information that Apple always bragged about but never knew how to turn them into a profit. This could be the beginning of an iWallet app.
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