Apple has famously shied away from using NFC in its mobile devices, whereas rivals Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry have all adopted the wireless technology and used it for file sharing and accessories. A new patent application filed by Apple suggests that the company will use the tech in the future, in both iOS devices and Macs.
The US Patent and Trademark Office recently granted Apple a patent for a method which allows files and other content to be transferred from iPhone to iPhone and even iPhone to Mac, using NFC. The image used in the patent application depicts files transferring both ways between Mac and iPhone, with the NFC chip placed in the top left of the iPhone.
The patent, entitled “System and method for simplified data transfer” suggests that Apple wants to make it easy to share files between its devices using NFC as the method of connection. It’s not clear whether Apple intends to use the system with non-Apple devices, but if it did it could make the process of transferring everything from an old phone to an iPhone very easy indeed.
Before we get too excited, we need to note that Apple originally filed the patent back in 2009, when NFC was in its infancy. Apple also loves to file patents for the thousands of ideas, designs and systems its employees come up with, so this could just be another case of the Cupertino company ensuring its ideas are safe – it may not end up doing anything with the patent.
With NFC becoming more and more popular in phones, tablets, speakers, tags and a multitude of other devices, the hope that Apple will jump on the bandwagon is always growing. Our next opportunity to see if they will in fact do this should come along around September time, when the iPhone 5S is expected to be announced.