Today Bloomberg had an article that directly points to the fact that the Credit Card days are numbered. Many rumors have been around that the iPad2 and the iPhone 5 will be equipped with NFC technology, short for Near Field Communications. This NFC technology will let you use your phone to pay your next grocery bill at the store, or even pay for gas without having to swipe your credit card.
Richard Doherty heads teh Envisioneering group said that Apple engineers were working on a NFC device that will be embedded into the iPhone5 and the iPad2. This will let consumers make purchases using their devices making it easier for them to buy with ease of convenience. Apple or other company will act as a payment gateway effectively drowing Visa and Mastercard by taking over the payment gateway business which is estimated to be about 220$ billion by 2015.
Apple plans to integrate this functionality with iTunes and will use either the gift card or your credit card information from that portal for payments but this will be temporary only. Apple plans to cut the middle man by having direct access to funds or have a fund account where you add funds to your Apple account to be spent using your NFC aware gadget.
Apple is yet to confirm this. Would you enjoy this service? Would it make things easier for you?
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