Apple's next-generation iPhone will not include the mobile payment technology known as near-field communication (NFC), according to a report from The Independent.
Apple has told several UK mobile operators that NFC will not be part of the next iPhone because Apple is concerned about the lack of an industry-wide standard, The Independent said. Sources, however, said that Apple is working on its own NFC option, which would link mobile payments via iTunes and be available via an Apple handset in 2012.
NFC encrypts data for very short-range transmission – a matter of inches, allowing users to pay for items with their smartphones.
In January, Bloomberg said that Apple would launch a system for making retail purchases directly from iPhones and iPads later this year. The following month, the iPad 2 rumor mill included reports that Apple was developing accessories to communicate with NFC chips via the iPad, though that did not come to pass.
Apple competitors like Research in Motion and Google are not as hesitant when it comes to NFC. At this year's Mobile World Congress, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that the majority of new BlackBerry devices this year will include NFC. That same week, Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile, announced an NFC service known as "mobile wallet," which will roll out in Europe this year and in the U.S. and beyond next year.
In November, Google chief Eric Schmidt showed off an unannounced Android phone running "Gingerbread" that included an NFC chip. Also in November, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon unveiled a national phone payment network called Isis, which uses NFC. The following month, Google unveiled the Nexus S, the first smartphone to feature Android 2.3 "Gingerbread." NFC was a big new feature in the Nexus S; the phone comes with a demo app that collects NFC tags and shows you the results.
For more, see PCMag's What is NFC, and Why Should You Care?