Is Apple’s Passbook On iOS 6 The Precusor To NFC?

The inclusion of Passbook with the new iOS 6 features has many people inferring that Apple is taking on the long-rumored “wave and pay” functionality associated with NFC. But is Passbook going to serve as the software size of wave and pay functionality on the iPhone 5 — or is it meant to bypass NFC completely?

For as cool and interesting as Passbook is, the verdict is still out on exactly where it fits into the “wave and pay” technology movement. Of course, Google Wallet was first to market in this area, but being first bore them no success: to date, NFC hardware is deployed on only a handful of Android devices, and adoption of the payment system by national retailers is similarly limited. While Google may have proven that wave and pay on mobile devices is technically possible, the tech community is looking to Apple — as usual — to be the company that truly mainstreams its implementation into everyday life.

Perhaps due to the excitement that surrounds the iPhone 5, as well as a litany of NFC patents over the past few years, excitement over NFC and the iPhone 5 has crescendoed together, with the prevailing belief that it would be the flagship device for Apple rolling out wave and pay functionality.

Because Apple failed to produce the iPhone 5 at this year’s WWDC, we still have yet to see any trace of the NFC hardware that it would need to be equipped with in order to make true wave and pay a reality. However, the tech community is seeing iOS 6′s new Passbook as a precursor to NFC. And some are even seeing it as an alternative to Google Wallet.

This perspective is well articulated in Brian Bennett’s piece today on CNET, wherein he states:

Apple’s Passbook app isn’t out yet, but from what I can tell it sidesteps the major pitfalls Google Wallet has run into, namely NFC and limited payment methods. It merely serves as a collector and repository for receipts, loyalty cards, and boarding passes from other retailers’ existing apps.
Relying on software and QR codes, Passbook also avoids the limitation of static hardware technology. It’s more flexible too in that users can add apps from vendors they trust or already have a relationship with. It’s pretty diabolical, actually, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple charges a cut to be a listed store within the Passbook application.

First off, Passbook does not avoid “the limitation of static hardware technology” entirely. While Apple would not need to include NFC hardware on the iPhone 5 in order to use Passbook for payments, retailers would need to equip all of their check-out stations with scanners that can read computer screens. Buy my bigger problem with Bennett’s perspective is when he states that Passbook “sidesteps the major pitfalls Google Wallet has run into” by merely serving “as a collector and repository for receipts.”

If this is all iOS 6 is going to offer us in terms of mobile payment, then it falls short of the convenience of what NFC promises to consumers.

The way Passbook would work if it becomes a mainstream mobile payment method is that every retailer would have to have their own Passbook app, which users would then download and make payments through. Passbook, then, would collect and present the receipt for the purchase, complete with a bar code that the retailer would scan in order to complete the transaction. This works great if you’re buying tickets to something beforehand — but how will this help you get coffee at Starbucks any faster in the morning?

The whole idea of NFC is that it takes the place of having to pay with a credit or debit card — or cash. Much like debit cards with smart chips in them, you just pass your iPhone 5 over a sensor, and the payment is debited out of your account. Instead of having a litany of Passbook apps for all of the retail stores you frequent, instead you have one app that intersects with your bank accounts.

There’s no doubt that Passbook could be the overture to a much more widespread NFC payment system that is coming to the iPhone 5. Once developers really start digging into iOS 6 beta, we’re bound to find more clues. But if Passbook is all that there is in iOS 6 for mobile payments, then I’m sorry to say that “NFC” as we perceive it be will not yet have arrived in 2012.
By Michael Nace