Will the iPhone 5 feature NFC technology?

We are heading towards an era in which smartphones will also act as our wallets, overtaking the physical wallet, and the plastic credit or debit card, as these physical, everyday accessories can become the subject of a search from time to time.

Google was the first one to use NFC technology, which has since been featured in a number of Android devices, but the popularity of Google Wallet has dropped, or at least moving too slowly.

Mastercard’s head of emerging payments, Ed McLaughlin, who was tasked with thinking big about the future of transaction technology, has hinted that the company will not go mainstream until it has a powerful partner – Apple’s iPhone equipped with the mobile payment solution.

In a discussion with Fast Company’s Austin Carr, Ed McLaughlin said, “We’re rapidly moving to a world beyond plastic. In many ways, plastic is just a convenient packaging”. He said MasterCard is in talks with certain manufacturers regarding including the technology in future devices, and when asked if Apple is one of those companies, he did not deny it. He said he could not disclose the names of the partners before their approval.

Putting the pieces together, McLaughlin’s words hint that Apple’s iPhone 5 might feature NFC technology. First of all, Apple was the company that revolutionized certain industries.

It began with the iPod and iTunes: before the launch of iTunes, no one paid for digital music, and no one carried their MP3 players around in order to listen to music on the go.

A second milestone was the iPhone. As Apple said, they revolutionized the phone, and they do it each year, every time they launch a new version of the device.

Another milestone: the iPad. The tablet industry was born when the revolutionary iPad was launched.

In other words, Apple is a key player in the consumer electronics industry and the latest reports are emphasizing the fact. Every research company’s results point towards Apple’s importance within the industry.

There are other signs suggesting Apple will work on implementing the NFC technology on its upcoming iPhone. As we previously reported – based on an article published by Patently Apple – the Cupertino company has patented a new technology which brings an additional layer of security into the Apple device product line.

Apple is aware that the future of payments is the contactless payment, so they figured out a way to increase the security of the iPhone (or iPad or MacBook) by making the charger unique to every device.

Now, add that to the revolutionary programmable magnets patent, and here we have a fully secure iPhone ready to act as an iWallet, or as my eWallet.