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Comment by sjtgraham | Hacker News Reader

I don't know why people think Apple will i) add NFC support to iPhone or ii) enter the payments space.

- iBeacons are much more versatile than NFC and Apple owns and drives the specification.

- CC processing is a ultra-low margin business and there are other more lucrative markets they should address before considering payments.

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I think Apple's strategy won't be to just go all-in on payments out of the gate. I imagine they will seek out a handful of partners where speed and ease of payment will tangibly affect the bottom line across millions of transactions, and negotiate aggressively to get long-term and deep commitments to the Apple payments system. Think: Starbucks, gas stations, large (large) restaurant/fast food chains, etc. I have a hard time seeing a path where they take in small to mid size businesses as customers.

Because NFC is being implemented in payment terminals today, and seems to be the upcoming default payment system. With encrypted card details on the SIM card. This will also allow you to pay without battery power on the phone.

CC processing isn't a play for profits, it's a play for power. Air cover for everything else they do.

I've been watching this space like a hawk for years now.

How did I miss the iBeacon?

wwdc 2013, they're in iOS7 which was not yet released - hence to real applications and just a few examples of hardware

So, after studying this for the last four hours, I've come to the conclusion that Apple is NEVER going to implement NFC, and in fact is trying to intentionally nosedive the technology into the ground, as a way of hurting the competition by all the time and effort they threw into a dead end technology.

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