Apple puts the NFC chip in the iPhone, launches Apple Pay
Apple has incorporated an NFC chip in its latest smartphone the iPhone 6 and will support it with a service called Apple Pay. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have an NFC antenna and a Secure Element chip.Users will e able to add their debit and credit card details from their iTunes store account. Apple Pay has also been designed to work with the new Apple Watch, which will extend Apple Pay to users of iPhone 5.Apple Pay supports credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard and American Express.Apple's media release only made reference to use of the system at contactless-enabled merchant terminals in the United States. However, users of Apple Pay will be able to dowload apps for making online payments.Apple has gone to great pains to promote the security of the system. Apple will not collect purchase histories, and in stores cashiers will not see the user name, card number of security code. Card numbers are not stored on the smartphone or on Apple servers. Instead, a "unique device account number" is assigned, encrypted and stored in the secure element chip.Visa announced that it will support Apple Pay with a new capability called Visa Token Service, which will will be available to participating financial institutions in the US. It did not say when the service would be available in Australia.The technology replaces payment account information on cards with a digital account number, to token, that can be stored in a mobile device.