Lack of NFC technology may cost Apple
The world of m-commerce news has been a flutter since Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 5 earlier this week. For months, speculation over whether the smart phone would be equipped with NFC technology has raged on and on. Some had expected Apple to make its powerful entry into the mobile commerce industry with its new mobile devices and applications designed specifically with NFC technology in mind (Passbook), but these expectations fell flat as the company announced that the iPhone 5 would not be using NFC technology.
Analyst suggests company misses significant opportunity
Rodney Gedda, a senior analyst with Telsyte, a leading telecommunications strategic planning consultancy, claims that Apple has missed an important opportunity by not including NFC technology in the new iPhone 5. The number of NFC-equipped mobile devices is growing, largely due to the popularity of mobile commerce. M-commerce is poised to become a significant part of the lives of consumers, and companies not willing to adapt to what that might mean could face serious consequences in the future, such as inability to compete in an industry already filled with strong competition.
Infrastructure may be more capable than Apple thinks
According to Gedda, the m-commerce infrastructure is starting to take form and reach a point where mobile payments can no longer be considered an inconvenience. Apple claims that NFC is not capable of solving any of the problems consumers are facing in the modern world and cites infrastructure as a major problem facing m-commerce today. With the infrastructure becoming more robust, however, Apple may have missed the mark in its assessment and could end up paying the price by losing a chance to establish itself as a leader in mobile commerce.
iPhone 5 hints at future possibilities
Though Apple may have missed an opportunity to establish a strong presence in mobile commerce, Gedda is not keen to count the company out entirely. As with its predecessors, the iPhone 5 is designed in such a way to hint at future upgrades for the mobile device. The phone’s use of Passbook and a powerful new processor could well pave the way for Apple’s future plans with NFC technology and, perhaps, its entry into the mobile commerce field.
