Archive for 18 August, 2010
Apple Adds to Future Ticketing Potential of the iPhone
Adding weight to a previous posting Apple is patently on the move into ticketing comes the announcement that Apple has hired an expert in NFC or described as “one of the big go-to guys if you’re interested in cell phone payment systems“.
Near-Field Communications (NFC) has been applied to public transport for contact free ticketing amongst other things. Qantas is trialling it at Perth Airport currently. “ NFC uses very short-range radio signals to send data between two system, typically with a flat spiral metal antenna–this is concealed inside those smart train tickets (or member card), since it’s both cheap and flexible.“
The difference is that developing this for iPhones may offer greater functionality and new service levels and services: “In high-tech NFC implementations, the antenna is hooked up to something much more powerful like a smartphone. When the phone is placed on or over an NFC sensor pad, much more complicated data can then be sent between the two systems, with data going to and from the phone.“
“NFC tech has been available for years, but it’s only really taken off in a few markets–like Japan–since the benefits have been pretty much limited to its contact-free nature. But now, with smartphones becoming the norm, the cleverer uses of NFC could mean the tech is about to explode into usefulness …“
Apple Hire Wireless Payment Guru, Prepare for iPhone Credit Cards
18 August, 2010 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 2 comments
