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chip card reader and PIN pad combination, which comes embedded with the of it. Since NFC is happening in
more complex EMV security logic, Calderano said. small strides, rather than a massive
rush, Apple has time to wait before it
Additionally, Square can give away the dongle to merchants and subsidize incorporates it into their system."
the cost with merchant fees. Calderano said JUSP research showed merchants
were willing to pay at most 50 euros (including taxes) for its chip-and-PIN Vanderhoof believes Apple will
reader. adopt NFC eventually, but only as
part of a larger integration between
Can NFC survive without Apple? the iPhone, iTunes and the other
services that operate within the Apple
ecosystem. But Apple did make a
Each year Apple Inc. reveals new iterations of its iconic iPhone that do not move that could be considered a
include near field communication (NFC), and each year critics call it a serious precursor to the adoption of NFC
blow to the prospects for the proximity payments technology. when it unveiled a thumbprint
biometric scanning mechanism for its
In September 2013, Apple unveiled two new iPhone models, neither of new iPhone 5S.
which is integrated with NFC. But Randy Vanderhoof, Director of the Smart
Card Alliance, said Apple's lack of NFC adoption is of little significance to The security feature, called Touch ID,
the direction of the NFC market, and naysayers mistake Apple's deliberate comes in the form of a sensor below
approach to technology adoption as a rejection of NFC. the iPhone's display screen that is
protected by a "sapphire crystal
Vanderhoof stated that the percentage of iPhones in the marketplace is overlay," which also functions as the
diminishing, and the number of Android-based smartphones that incorporate lens for the sensor, Apple said.
NFC is increasing. Additionally, Apple takes a pragmatic approach when it Google Wallet versus Isis
comes to integrating technologies into its products.
Apple's approach can be contrasted
"Historically, Apple has waited for new technologies to settle down and with how Google Inc. tackled NFC
become deployed and get the kinks worked out," Vanderhoof said. "And then via Google Wallet. Vanderhoof said
they capitalize on that with usually a more elegant, advanced implementation Google Wallet was a "half-hearted
attempt, and there really wasn't a
strong strategy to get behind it and
push it forward."
Google struggled to get mobile
handset developers to allow the
NFC-enabled mobile wallet on their
smartphones. Card issuers were also
slow to integrate their payment cards
with the mobile wallet. In addition,
conflict arose when the mobile
networks would not recognize and
enable Google Wallet to operate on
their networks, Vanderhoof said.

He believes Isis, the joint venture of
AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US Inc.
and Verizon Wireless is taking the
right approach to rolling out NFC
payments. "They're building out the
technology and the mobile wallet and
the device," he said. "And they are
lining up the partners in the financial
industry, in the merchant industry, to
be ready so that when they do their
full launch, they have all of the parts
in place, tested and working. "

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