October 4, 2011
by prxchantal
Today sees the day that Apple are expected to reveal what the fifth generation of iPhone has in store for us. Of course, the big question in the contactless world is:
Will the iPhone 5 come equipped with NFC?
Unfortunately we still have a few hours to wait. The presentation of the handset isn’t due to begin until 6pm UK time, with the announcement of it’s NFC capabilities expected shortly afterwards. Apple have succesffuly maintained a hum of rumour about their NFC plans over the past year, with both internal staff and external media offering up conflicting information on their technology roadmap. It’s no surprise, therefore, that those of us involved with the NFC have been waiting with bated breath for this day to come.
Having recently beaten both Microsoft and IBM to become the highest ranking technology company (in terms of market value), Apple’s influence on both consumers and industry insiders alike is stronger than ever. With a forceful push on consumer and brand education, we could see NFC grow even more quickly than expert predictions suggest. However, Apple’s secretive attitude towards NFC could suggest one of two things:
1. They have been working on a phone with NFC capabilities incredibly advanced and user-friendly. They didn’t want the risk of competitors picking up on their ideas and manipulating them into their own applications.
2. They arrived at the NFC game a little late and over-cautious. Brands like Google and Nokia were already approaching touchdown with their first NFC handsets. Apple observed that in order to compete, they would need to get the NFC capabilities in their phone abolutely right. With the iPhone 5 already in development, they decided to put off introducing NFC into the handset, preferring to wait for the following iPhone 6.
It would be fantastic if the reason was the former: increased industry competition and therefore advances in the technology and consumer attitudes towards it would speed up immensely. That said, the lack of NFC in the iPhone 5 wouldn’t be all bad. Apple have had a tendency to eye up new technologies and observe competitor behaviour before jumping on board. If this is the case, we can expect them to offer up even better NFC capabilities with future phones; phones that have learnt from the innovation, as well as the mistakes, of other leading handset manufacturers.
Only time will tell what the new iPhone 5 holds, but even if it doesn’t come with NFC, there will be plenty of other handsets over 2011/12 that will make up for the lack.
Going beyond payment, Proxama’s Chief Exec, Neil Garner will be presenting at tomorrow’s Travel 2020 event. Neil will review what’s been happening with NFC within the transport sector and explore the direction in which the technology is heading. Having only last month spoken to 
