The prospect of using a cellphone to pay for your goods or services has been up in the air for a while in the United States. While you can do it in some places (Japan), the US certainly is never the most able to adopt technologies that revolve around the transfer of money. Who knows what the reason is, but Apple is incredibly interested in making this a possibility, detailing a plethora of possible NFC (near field communications) interactions. Apple wants to make your iPhone your credit card. It also wouldn’t mind writing checks or earning a spot as your casual debit card, while also being able to accept those same forms of payment. If you’ve ever wanted to easily split a check between you and five friends at a restaurant (something that is a hassle with cards), Apple wants to make this easy. And you know if Apple wants to use the iPhone as your personal money stash, they’re going to be accessing iTunes to handle all the transaction info. In all honesty, this is kinda scary (yet cool!) at the same time.
Posts tagged with "apple"
Apple “Transaction” e-Wallet Application makes an Appearance
Apple Patents Approve Touch, Light, Proximity Sensors
iPhones and iPod touches wouldn’t be what they are today without their internal merger of their multi-touch input panel (which lays behind the LCD screen), their proximity sensors, and their ambient light sensors. These devices generally do a good job of being able to automatically apply settings based on my environment, and it looks like Apple is gunning for one particularly interesting ability - automatically forwarding calls between your home phone (or an office phone) and iPhone depending on the proximity to your landline. Patently Apple mentioned that the technology wasn’t just restricted to the iPhone, so maybe you’ll be using your iMac to answer calls from Grandma. A quick pic after the break.
Latest Apple Patent Shows Us the Future iPad Dock?
Every week we report the latest patent Apple has been granted, and while sometimes it’s about new techonologies in the very early stages, this time Apple has patented something that might be released in the near future.
Remember the iMac G4? Apple has patented a docking station that takes a lot of inspiration from it, being a “moveable arm” that should allow users to have something like a desktop computer, with non-contact inductive technology to recharge portable devices and transfer data.
Steve Jobs, Alive and Well One Year Later
Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting that Steve Jobs is in fact, “Fully operational” one year after his liver transplant. It only took Businessweek to make me realize just how lively Jobs has been the past few months, from the release of the iPad, to the campaign against Flash. Also noted is his recent endorsement of a Californian law that promotes organ donations, as well detailing the specifics of Jobs’ previous condition and surgery. While most it reiterates what we already knew, this just goes to show that Apple investors and customers should rest easy - Steve’s not going anywhere for a long time.
Apple Plans To Go Against Flash With A Gianduia
Remember Flash? Yeah, that weird guy Steve Jobs is so mad at, the little kid from Adobe that has taken over the web in the past years and that now is in serious trouble. Well, it seems like Steve wants to beat the guy using chocolate, some Gianduia to be exact.
Apple Confirms: One Million iPads in 28 Days
This is not surprising at all, but it’s nice to have an official confirmation. With a brief press release, which we’re embedding after the break, Apple has confirmed that they’ve sold 1M iPads in just 28 days, while it took 74 days to have the same result with the iPhone.
Great job.
Finally: Apple Granted Patent for the iPhone and iPod Touch Design
Steve Jobs should be a lot happier today. In fact, the US Patent and Trademark Office has finally granted Apple a patent for the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch design as “the ornamental design of an electronic device”. Basically, no one can copy the design of these products anymore.
Apple Vs. Adobe: Steve’s Take
According to Mashable, Steve Jobs has replied to some emails from Greg Slepak from Tao Effect (developers of Espionage) regarding the situation of Apple banning applications written in languages other than Objective C. Apparently Steve Jobs is endorsing John Gruber’s take on the subject, but I suggest you to take a look at the full post here.