14 DAY TRIAL // New findings in iOS 8.1 Beta indicate that Apple is on track to deploy iPads with Touch ID fingerprint sensors. Other interesting tidbits have emerged, after one developer decided to poke around the code a little.
Hamza Sood reports on Twitter that Apple has changed some of its Apple Pay & Privacy policies, throwing in a screenshot as evidence that the company plans to add new types of credit card support to Passbook.
Milking Apple Pay for all it’s got
Apple is sensing a huge opportunity in its new payment service, Apple Pay. It hasn’t even taken off, and the Cupertino mammoth already wants to expand it to iPads.
Passbook holds things like tickets, passes, and even credit card info, but soon you'll get new options to add a credit or debit card and set transaction defaults (default card, billing address, shipping address, email, and phone).
When your phone enters a familiar NFC zone, it will prompt you to choose the credit / debit card you want to use.
This functionality is not expected to hit the iPad, according to developer Hamza Sood. In all fairness, the considerably-sized iPad is not designed for such scenarios. What he does expect is to see iPads enabled with Touch ID sensors for shopping done via apps (such as catalogs and online stores).
Apple Pay policy changes
It isn’t clear if the words laid down here are severely changed (compared to the initial policy), but it’s important to know what Apple will have you agree to, if you want to use its payment service.
According to the new policy, which customers need to accept in order to use Apple Pay, “When you choose to add a payment card to Apple Pay, information you provide about your card may be collected in order to determine your eligibility and enable use of the feature.”
While the wording may sound concerning, it’s actually standard procedure. How else are the servers going to accept your credit / debit card validation? It also says this:
“Information about your payment card, including your credit or debit card number, the name and billing address associated with your account, general information about your iTunes and App Store account activity (e.g., whether you have a long history of transactions within iTunes), information about your device (e.g., the name of your device), as well as your location at the time you add your card (if you have Location Services enabled), may be sent to Apple and provided by Apple to your card issuer and payment network in order to determine the eligibility of your card, for fraud detection purposes and to facilitate your use of the Apple Pay feature.”
New iPads
As previously rumored, there seems to be a lot of evidence mounting around Touch ID-enabled iPads. It’s really not surprising, considering Apple is at its second generation of smartphones that are using the fingerprint sensor. In all likelihood, the next version of the iPad will include this hardware.
There’s also a rumor that the Cupertino giant can’t wait until next year to show off its uber-sized 13-inch iPad Plus, or iPad Pro, as some think it will be called. The company is said to be holding an event next month, so all this could materialize in just a few weeks.