While many tech and mobile experts are quick to claim NFC is the future of mobile transactions (and just about everything else that can possibly be done with a mobile device for that matter), it appears the future isn't now for Apple, who aren't overly keen on the technology at present and seem poised to leave it on the iPhone 5 cutting room floor.
In a report in the Wall Street Journal regarding Apple's approach to mobile payments, a person briefed on the details of a 2012 executive review on payment plan methods told the WSJ that Apple executives balked at the inclusion of NFC in their upcoming devices.
Some executives preferred to use the newest secure technology that employed the internet, rather than NFC. Others were skeptical of the usefulness of NFC payment methods at present, owing to the slow adoption of NFC by retailers, which isn't expected to pick up in earnest for possibly another 3-4 years. Some also feared that bad experiences using NFC would land in Apple's lap, and that making use of the relatively untested technology would come back to haunt them. There were also concerns that adding the required antenna and chip necessary to facilitate NFC technology would negatively impact the iPhone 5's battery life.
So despite several Apple engineers fighting for the inclusion of the mobile payment technology, it was deliberately left out of iOS 6 by Apple executives.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster explained Apple's methodology to the WSJ in this way: "Apple is always a comfortable number two. They let their competitors do their market research for them."
Rather than take risks and be on the cutting edge, Apple is content to dress up the tried and true, and do it better than anyone else. And it appears NFC is simply a risk they aren't willing to take on at present. Until then, users will have to be content with Passbook, Apple's unambitious wallet app that foregoes the use of credit or debit cards entirely.
Is NFC a technology you would like to see in the iPhone 5? Or is Apple right in their assertions that the technology is too untested and not nearly supported enough as of yet to make it a worthwhile addition?
