5 Uses For NFC On The iPhone 5

Near Field Communication (NFC) is certainly the biggest and potentially most exciting development that will come with the iPhone 5 when it is launched next year if reports and various hints published online are to be believed.

As reported earlier, there's a strong chance that Apple is planning to use NFC to enable seamless takeover by the iPhone 5 of any Apple Mac with the required upgrade. It's worth noting that ALL Mac computers (including the Mac Pro) come with Bluetooth and WiFi by default. Here are five potential uses of NFC for the forthcoming iPhone 5.

Apple's plan with the iPhone 5 is apparently to turn the device into the equivalent of a wireless USB drive that can sync personal data and act as an indentification token through what seems to be a virtual machine. Think of it as the equivalent of Mobile.me on a phone but without the cloud bit and without the $99 price tag.

The other use for NFC for the iPhone 5 is as an electronic wallet. Given the fact that your iPhone is defacto linked to your iTunes account (and therefore to your credit card and bank details), Apple could very easily turn your phone (or your iPod Touch) into an e-wallet; to enable any physical purchase, just swipe and optionally type in your 4-digit passcode, like for the contactless Barclaycard (see a demo here).

Another fairly obvious application is using the iPhone 5 as an electronic badge or ticket. You can already use your iPhone with the appropriate application to access various ticket venues. And it is not surprising that Apple has indeed filed a patent application for NFC e-tickets.

Ditto for electronic badges; again it is worth noting that Apple is already in talks with Gemalto to get an integrated SIM that could potentially offer some very exciting NFC possibilities.