Image credit: Apple
While the next iPhone (or iPhone 5, as many people are calling it) is already rumored to have a larger display and a different design, new rumors suggest the phone will also have Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC chips enable people to send data between two NFC-equipped devices. You can tap a phone to a credit card reader to pay, for instance, or bump two phones gently together to send photos or video from one to the other.
According to the Apple blog 9to5Mac, data found in code for the next iPhone reveals that the phone will have NFC controllers. To back up its claim, the site points to patents for NFC that have been filed by Apple. It also quotes the chief technology officer of SITA, an air transportation organization, who is convinced NFC is coming to the next iPhone.
Apple showed off the next version of its iPhone and iPad operating system — iOS 6 — earlier this month at its WWDC conference. Included in the software is an app called Passbook, which provides easy access to loyalty cards, including those from Starbucks, Fandango, etc. Many speculate that this app will have NFC capabilities. There are more details on Passbook and iOS 6 here.
Samsung’s new Galaxy S III, which is forecast to be the best selling Android phone this year, has NFC capabilities. Samsung has even released programmable NFC stickers, called TecTiles.
Apple is expected to release the next iPhone in the second half of the year, perhaps in September or October, close to a year after the iPhone 4S was released. Apple has not said anything publicly about the next version of its iPhone.
iPhone 5 prototypes reportedly reveal NFC support - CNET News
The next iPhone could let users buy products and share files through near field communication.
Code pulled from Pre-EVT (Engineering Verification Testing) iPhone 5,1 and iPhone 5,2 prototypes by 9to5Mac leads the Apple enthusiast site to believe that NFC chips and an antenna will be built into this year's iPhone.
If true, it means Apple would finally jump onto the mobile payments bandwagon, allowing its users to purchase goods and services directly through their smartphones. This latest rumor also comes on top of the company's launch of Passbook, a feature slated for iOS 6 that would let people store electronic versions of receipts, tickets, boarding passes, and other information from merchants.
On its own, Passbook doesn't necessarily need to depend on NFC since it serves more as a repository. But Jim Peters, chief technology officer of air transport technology company SITA, believes Apple will incorporate NFC into Passbook, maybe not at first but certainly down the road.
"There is a lot of debate that NFC will never take off because of all the arguments," Peters told 9to5Mac. "But you need to get ready, this is coming. This is going to happen. By the end of the year the majority of smartphones that you go and buy will have NFC on them. If in October the next iPhone comes out and it has NFC on it, it's game over."
Apple could also hook up with an existing mobile payment service like CitiBank's PayPass or even handle payments on its own through all the credit cards already stored through iTunes, suggests 9to5Mac.
NFC has been touted for its ability to enable mobile payments merely by swiping your smartphone past a merchant's NFC-equipped reader. But the technology potentially offers much more. iPhone owners would be able to swap and share files between different devices, reducing the need to synchronize through iTunes.
Apple has reportedly been working on NFC integration for a while.
A New York Times story from March 2011 confirmed that a future iPhone would include the NFC hardware. Some rumors at the time speculated that last year's iPhone would be NFC-enabled, but obviously those rumors missed the mark.
NFC is still struggling to move beyond its first baby steps. Google has already been playing in this sandbox. Certain Android phones come equipped with the NFC hardware, and the search giant has been pushing its Google Wallet service. So the time seems ripe for Apple to finally enter this nascent market, a development that could give NFC the push it needs to enter the mainstream.
Verizon, T-Mobile to Swap, Sell Spectrum - PC Magazine
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless today announced a deal whereby both providers will purchase and swap spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band.
T-Mobile and Verizon said the deal will help boost their respective 4G LTE coverage.
The deal also includes spectrum that is part of Verizon's pending, $3.6 billion acquisition of spectrum owned by cable firms like Comcast, and a separate deal with Leap. As a result, the T-Mobile deal can only go through if regulators also approve Verizon's other pending spectrum deals.
In May, a collection of businesses - including T-Mobile and Sprint - joined together to form the Alliance for Broadband Competition, a lobbying group designed to block Verizon's purchase of the cable-owned spectrum.
In a statement today, the Alliance for Broadband Competition said that "while it's nice that Verizon will cede a small portion of its vast spectrum holdings to T-Mobile, that does nothing to mitigate the fact that Verizon and Cable want to stop competing, stop investing, and stop innovating to the great detriment of consumers and the American economy."
"Our position remains the same: we urge the DoJ and FCC to continue their thorough examination of these agreements to ensure a competitive telecommunications industry," the alliance said.
"This is good for T-Mobile and good for consumers because it will enable T-Mobile to compete even more vigorously with other wireless carriers," T-Mobile CEO and president Philipp Humm said in a statement. "We anticipate FCC approval later this summer, in time for us to incorporate this new spectrum into our network modernization and the rollout of LTE services next year."
T-Mobile plans to roll out its 4G LTE network in 2013, thanks in part to the AWS spectrum it gained from the failed AT&T merger deal as well as a $4 billion investment.
The AT&T deal provided T-Mobile with AWS spectrum in 128 cellular markets, including 12 of the top 20. T-Mobile said today that the additional Verizon spectrum will cover 60 million people in cities like Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle, Cleveland, Columbus, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro, Memphis, and Rochester.
For more, see PCMag's Fastest Mobile Networks 2012.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
iPhone's GPS Tracker Helps Officers Find Suspect - KIII TV3
Foxconn CEO: iPhone 5 will Put the Galaxy S3 to Shame - mobilenapps.com
- Foxconn CEO Terry Gou(L), Samsung Galaxy S3 image from "Galaxy S3 World Tour in Korea” in downtown Seoul on June 25.(Photo: Reuters | Samsung | M & A)
The Apple iPhone 5 is expected to make its merry way into consumer hands this year, but the big question on everyone's mind is, how well will it stand up to the Samsung Galaxy S3. The Galaxy S3 is Samsung's latest and greatest Android smartphone offering, and with reports claiming the device has already achieved a record 9 million pre-orders worldwide, the iPhone 5 is up for some serious competition.
With the ongoing battle between Apple and Samsung getting more personal, Terry Gou, the CEO of iPhone maker Foxconn, lashed out at Samsung by claiming the iPhone 5 will put the Galaxy S3 to shame, according to the China Times, which was quoted in English by Focus Taiwan on Tuesday. Gou didn't specify what exactly about the iPhone 5 will put the Galaxy S3 to shame, but we are suspecting rumors of an upgraded 4-inch Retina display with Quad Core inside could turn out to be legitimate, and if done well, it might really have what it takes to stand up to the Samsung Galaxy S3 toe to toe.
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Terry Gou continued to throw words on Samsung by describing the it as a "a company with a track record of snitching on its competitors," which is reference to a price fixing defamation a few years ago.
The Galaxy S3 is gearing up to be sold through Verizon and AT&T in July, by then we will see if the device is capable of competing with Apple's iPhone in terms of sales. Many expect the device to do well, but outselling the iPhone 5 is not on the charts since it lacks the same die hard fanbase iPhones are known to have. However, if Apple fails to significantly bump the hardware specs of the iPhone 5, we doubt the most loyal of fans will step out to purchase a handset that is furlongs behind the competition.
Apart from a bigger screen with higher resolution and a quad core processor, other rumors depict the iPhone with a smaller dock connection, liquidmetal chassis, and Corning Gorilla Glass 2.0, and 3D camera, among other things.
With the iPhone 5 and Windows Phone 8 devices expected to be released close to each other, Q4 2012 should be one of the best in smartphone history. Bring it on. We're ready.
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