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Lack of contactless payment technology in the iPhone 4S expected to depress prospects for the NFC-enabled phone market and therefore the overall prospects for mobile payments this year.
October 4 -
Steve Jobs' resignation raises further uncertainty over Apple's payment plan intentions, but Apple patents themselves provide some clues as to where the company may be going.
August 25 -
Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple Computer's chief executive may prove a mixed bag—but a critically important one—for banks.
August 24 -
Even though the mobile banking space is maturing, some banks continue to deploy multiple apps to get a first-to-market advantage for new functions.
August 22 -
The latest forecast of mobile payment growth, from U.K. research company Visiongain, calls for $150 billion in mobile-phone-generated payments to take place globally by the end of this year.
August 12 -
The company is setting up two branch technology labs and reinvesting in branch upgrades, adding digital display walls, iPad apps and kiosks equipped with telepresence.
July 1
Steve Jobs spent his career more focused on personal computing than on personal banking, but under him Apple Computer still left a lasting mark on the world of finance.
Jobs, who died Wednesday, famously popularized the consumer smartphone with the 2007 introduction of the original iPhone. Although Apple’s app store did not launch for another year, developers soon began designing their own unofficial software for the handset, which
Its two-megapixel camera made the iPhone one of the few cell phones of its time with the resolution necessary to mobile check capture.
When Apple officially launched its app store in 2008, its rigid standards for vetting each app sent a message of trust to consumers. Bankers who for years had been grappling with hacker threats—from phishing to spoof sites—soon flocked to the iPhone and similar smartphones to deliver secure banking services.
With Jobs at the helm, Apple also had a direct hand in setting the standards in banking and payments. The company’s iTunes digital media store was one of the clearest early examples of a merchant successfully aggregating small-dollar payments to save on transaction fees. Its app store is also one of the most successful mobile-payment systems in use today, allowing users who tap their phone’s screen to buy from a seemingly endless catalog of software and music.
Although its iconic leader is now gone, Apple appears well positioned to remain in the vanguard of the remote payments world. Its patents give hints to several approaches it could take to handling point-of-sale payments. There is also, however, the risk that with Jobs gone the company could fall behind. Its latest iPhone, introduced in the past week, does not contain a contactless payment chip like that Google's rival Nexus S phone uses.
In banking as elsewhere, all eyes are now on Tim Cook, who took over from Jobs as Apple’s chief executive officer in August and must now try to carry on a remarkable legacy of innovation on his own.
