More iWatch leaks from Apple, this time to the Wall Street Journal. Now comes the unsurprising news that 1) the iWatch’s display will be curved and with an OLED screen, and 2) the iWatch will include an NFC chip to allow contactless payments.
The NFC news is only slightly surprising, and less so in light of a recent drumbeat of news reports that Apple’s been talking with major card processors — Visa, Mastercard, American Express. It’s also worth noting that Apple under Steve Jobs was highly resistant to NFC, not to menti0n most other technologies that weren’t invented in Cupertino. iOS8, the coming mobile operating system, allows developers much more freedom than was previously possible in the Apple ecosystem, including the use of non-standard browsers and keyboards; giving developers to NFC could turn out to be interesting.
Then again, Android phones have had NFC chips for years, and they’ve hardly set the world of electronic commerce on fire. But Google doesn’t have Apple’s ginormous stash of credit card info, thanks to iTunes.
The WSJ also quotes analysts as saying there are supply problems with the iWatch’s components, but those reports feel soft. As we’ve said before, the iWatch will get here when it gets here.
We’ll continue to resist reporting on iWatch rumors. We’ll probably get sucked in anyway.