Study reveals lack of NFC in iPhone 5 bad for market

Set market back by 2 years?

According to a new report by Juniper Research, Apple’s decision not to include near field communication (NFC) technology in the iPhone 5 has set the market back by two years in the US and Western Europe.

The research says that while the proportion of NFC-enabled smartphones will only be a little below previous estimates in 2017, retail transactions will hit just USD110bn, which is well under the USD180bn that was originally expected.

The report suggests that the lack of NFC in the iPhone 5 is having a knock-on effect on retailers and brands, with many now moving away from the technology due to a lack of confidence. Indeed, where NFC was previously predicted to be the standard for mobile payments going forward, others are now gaining traction, with cloud services and plug-in dongles proving increasingly popular.

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