Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2013 | Page 33

Apple is the one with the right tricks up its sleeve. They seem to be easing into the payments space without much notice. With every new iPhone launch come rumors about whether or not it will have NFC in it. phones—no email, no text. AirDrop just drops my photo or video right onto another person’s iPhone as long as we are close. You have to enable it to work, and you have to accept an incoming photo, but can payments with this technology be very far behind? Why couldn’t I just AirDrop an iTunes credit from my account to yours, or to a merchant’s? And just because I may not like the iPhone, I could still have an iTunes account and use my fingerprint to pay at a POS. Maybe this solves BitCoin’s problem too…. n Grow Market Lead out a deep breath and think they are okay until the next release. Well, I am not so sure they are off the hook this time. What about the fingerprint ID on the iPhone 5s? Most people tell me they think it is kind of cool, but not really worth upgrading their phone for. But guess what? Now when you buy something from iTunes on that phone, you no longer have to enter a password; you just use your fingerprint. How many of us have iTunes accounts and are now paying with our fingerprint? Now imagine no credit cards at the POS—just a fingerprint scan and you’ve paid through iTunes. If I were Google Wallet or PayPal, I would be more than just a little worried about this. Did you notice something else that is pretty cool on the new iPhone (as well as for anyone who upgrades to iOS 7) called AirDrop? I was amazing my friends at an event recently by AirDropping photos directly to their Tom Epstein is CEO and founder of Franchise Payments Network, an electronic payments processing company dedicated to helping franchisors and their franchisees improve system performance, increase revenue, and reduce expenses. Contact him at [email protected] or 866-420-4613 x1103. Franchiseupdate Is s u e I V, 2013  31