Could Apple be developing a credit card app?
With the economy in decline once again, news that apple could be creating a mobile payment service to take on the credit card industry, which could launch in the US later this year, might not be what is best for any country trying to pick itself up.
According to a piece in this morning's edition of The Telegraph, Apple is considering subsidising payment terminals for shops as it looks to compete with Near Field Communications (NFC), which develops systems for credit card companies Mastercard and Visa.
NFC has also developed chips for the London Underground’s Oyster Card, which allows travellers to walk into each Underground station, wave the card for entry and pass freely through the barriers, and is also being used by Barclaycard, meaning no need for chip-and-pin technology.
The mobile payment service from Apple could begin to roll out in America as early as this summer, according Bloomberg, and is likely to be integrated with iTunes, which already holds financial information of iPad and iPhone owners for access to downloads.
Fred Huet, managing partner of Greenwich Consulting, commented on the plan: “NFC is an ecosystem and therefore although it’s great news that Apple gets into the fray this will require more players aligning and investing in this (retail chains for example). At the moment there is a clear “land grab” going on in that space between operators, handset manufacturers, banks and card operators such as VISA. Replacing cards with phones in the next five years as Telefonica mentioned is probably more aspiration than a definitive target”.