Mobile transactions are quickly becoming big business. If you own a smartphone, chances are you've used it to purchase movie tickets, download music or bid on eBay auctions. Near field communications (NFC) technology - which essentially turns cell phones into credit cards and keys - is a touchy subject due to inherent security risks. It's one thing to lose your phone and have someone make expensive prank calls to Sri Lanka. It's quite another to discover someone went on a spending spree using just your phone and then broke into your home using the address stored inside it as a reference.
According to recent rumors, Apple may be implementing NFC technology into both the iPhone 5 and the iPad 2. This would certainly prove beneficial to Apple-holics eager to spend on the go, but it brings up another issue: impulse spending in the digital age.
The impulse purchase is a brick-and-mortar birthright. Retailers teasing consumers with relatively inexpensive products right as they buy what they really came for is a tried-and-true tactic long-used to maximize profits. Many have long connected happiness - however fleeting - with the simple act of being a consumer. True or imagined, that internal fire could very well spread to digital age consumers who buy on-the-go and are rarely without a phone in their hands.
With Apple allegedly set on implementing NFC technology and easing consumers into the world of mobile purchases (or at least making it easier for them to spend when away from both stores and computers), we may soon see an already booming industry explode. There's just one catch: NFC isn't an industry standard. Not yet, anyway. The Samsung Galaxy S2 and other Android-enabled phones are also reported to be on the receiving end of an NFC upgrade soon.
NFC-enabled devices only need to be in close proximity - mere centimeters - to one another to connect. A transaction can be implemented by something as simple as waving your phone in front of an NFC receiver. With credit cards the rigmarole of swiping, accepting the charge, possibly showing ID and then signing for your purchase may give you pause. But it's even easier to buy something that you don't really need when the process is so seamless, so mindless as a hand gesture.
We'll have to wait and see if Apple and others follow through, and if that's enough to tip the scales.
