As Apple inches closer to its news event on September 9, there has been growing speculation that mobile payments will be a part of the action. Apple, the reports say, will add NFC technology to the iPhone 6, and it will debut a mobile wallet-style service that could include integrations with American Express, Visa and MasterCard and possibly PayPal to enable physical, in-store payments using the smartphone.
The reports of Apple finally making the mobile payments jump seem to have redoubled this year, boosted by positive payment comments from Apple CEO Tim Cook himself.
If the reports are accurate, a mobile payments service from Apple would have been a long time in the making, coming after years of speculation involving potential acquisitions; lots of patents; a steadily growing pile of consumer credit card data from its (likely over) 800 million iTunes accounts; and as a counterbalance to moves from would-be competitors.