AppleInsider | Report: Apple testing RFID swipe support in iPhone prototypes

Description

Report: Apple testing RFID swipe support in iPhone prototypes

A site focused on Near Field Communications has reported that Apple has built new iPhone prototypes with hardware support for sensing RFID chips.

RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) is a technology that allows a device to sense embedded chips in nearby objects without making direct contact or without using visible light like a barcode reader. Apple has already filed patents related to a mobile "ID App" capable of using an RFID sensor, a way to use RFID to sense and connect to available WiFi networks, and a touchscreen RFID tag reader .

New RFID support in future iPhones could enable a variety of "touchless" technologies, ranging from swipe payments (where users could pay for items at a checkout, vending machine, or toll booth by swiping their phone near a payment pad), to swipe sensing of information kiosks, objects, or even animals.

Very little data needs to be transmitted between the RFID chip and the device to do useful things; a payment would only need to present the user's account number. A kiosk could ...

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http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/05/report_apple_testing_rfid_swipe_support_in_iphone_prototypes.html

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/05/report_apple_testing_rfid_swipe_support_in_iphone_prototypes.html