Rumors, upon rumors, upon rumors, have come and gone over the last year and one of the most consistent was the inclusion of NFC in the next generation iPhone. When Apple introduced iOS 6, and spilled the beans about Passbook, many quickly speculated that NFC would be coming to the new iPhone device that’s expected to be announced in September.
While I never understood why an iPhone with Passbook, a technology based on barcode scanners, would need NFC for payments when the system would already integrate with most point-of-sales systems, the rumors persisted. NFC was in the next phone. Today, NFC is out.
Mr. Jim Dalrymple over at the Loop, who’s pretty much the only person in the know when it comes to these things, has posted a trademark “Yep” response to an article that speculates that NFC will not be in the next iPhone due to the rumored aluminum backplate that’s expected to be part of the new phone.
NFC never really made sense for the iPhone. What small to medium sized business wants to deal with yet another form of payment and all the technology and hurdles that go along with it? If Passbook integrates as seamlessly with P.O.S systems as one expects it will, there’s probably not much incentive to put NFC into the iPhone.
