iPhone5 won’t have NFC feature
iPhone fanatics wishing Near Field Communication (NFC) technology will be included in the iPhone 5 are probably to be let down, according to a record by The Independent’s Nick Clark. NFC is a category of extremely short-range mobile technologies, that typically require a range of 4 cm or less between communicating devices, and that among other things would enable users to pay for merchandise and services by waving an NFC-enabled device such as a mobile phone over a reader terminal at the checkout instead of using plastic or cash.
Such things as NFC p2p communication between powered devices and passive RFID tag reading would also be achievable, but the technology’s main commercial usage, and thus main development aim has been a transaction function.
However, Clark reports that unnamed sources at major U.K. wireless service operators tell him that Apple has informed its service provider partners in recent meetings that the iPhone 5 will not support NFC, attributing the decision to the current lack of a clear NFC standard across the industry. However, Clark noted that Apple “is understood” to be developing its own NFC protocol that would channel payments through iTunes, supported by deals with Visa and MasterCard to have Apple payments accepted by existing NFC terminals. and predicting rollout in 2012, which will be when iPhone 6 debuts if past history is any pointer.