Apple Iphone 6 a new range of persona
Apple is expected to continue
its September tradition of the past few years by unveiling the iPhone 6 and a smart watch on
Tuesday. The devices reportedly will add mobile payments to compete with
companies like Amazon and Square that are using the new technology.
The
iPhone 6 and smart watch will use near field communication technology to allow
users to buy things by scanning their devices on
sensors in certain stores like the Apple retail shops, coupled with
tokenization that generates a one-time use payment code, according to industry
blog Bank Innovation.
This
combination may boost convenience and decrease fraud, but linking payments with
mobile phones also raises privacy concerns. Apple’s addition of a fingerprint
scanner to its iPhone 5S last September sparked concern about
granting the tech giant greater access to users’ personal information.
The
iPhone 6 also will have a larger display to meet growing consumer demand for
bigger screen size and an easier browsing experience on phones. A U.S. patent
granted to Apple indicates the smart watch may be called iTime.
Companies are trying to make devices
fashionable, in part to make up for the perception that wearables
can’t yet rival the convenience of a smartphone, says Carolina Milanesi, chief
of research at market analysis group Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Milanesi
expects Apple’s watch to have a fashion design that appeals to men and women,
but the image included in the patent resembles the basic detachable watch band
available as an accessory for the company’s iPod nano.
Patent drawings filed to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of a
potential Apple smartwatch.
Apple also will likely preview a new iOS 8
operating system Tuesday to follow the new HealthKit and HomeKit platforms it debuted in
June. Health monitoring is expected to be a major part of the smart watch,
since fitness tracking is the most successful feature of the growing wearables
sector.
Competition on wearables comes from companies including Google, which
unveiled its Android Wear operating
system earlier this year. The system includes features like voice search and
fitness monitoring, and operates on wearables designed by Intel and Motorola.
