IPhone Cannot Make or Receive Payments–Please Restore from iTunes
In the past two years, Near Field Communication expert Benjamin Vigier has helped develop mobile-wallet solutions for Starbucks (SBUX), Paypal, Sprint (S), a Top 3 U.S. bank and two Top 5 U.S. telecoms, so news that he’s been hired on at Apple (AAPL) as the company’s mobile commerce manager is an interesting indication of the company’s designs on the virtual-wallet space.
Certainly, Vigier’s background, taken together with the handful of mobile purchasing patents Apple’s been issued recently on airline and event ticketing applications, suggests that the company, if not already wedded to the idea of an iPhone-as-payment-system, is certainly standing ready at the altar.
With Vigier onboard as mobile commerce manager, the company could be gearing up for the release of “Transaction,” the mobile peer-to-peer financial exchange it patented earlier this year that would allow iPhone owners to use an app to make payments from their credit card or bank accounts, or via iTunes (see embedded document below).
Watch out BlingNation.
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