Apple is all but confirmed to be prepping its own wireless payments platform this year, with many recent reports revealing various details about the upcoming NFC-based mobile payments features coming to iPhone 6 and iWatch models. Bank Innovation, a publication that has recently revealed that Apple may have scored some preferential deals with financial institutions in the U.S., is now back with a report that details yet another way the company plans to secure mobile payments, in addition to the NFC secure enclave and Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
FROM EARLIER: Apple already has a huge advantage over Google in wireless payments
Apparently, Apple will make use of tokenization technology to further limit the scope of potential financial fraud. Instead of sending over the air the 16-digit card numbers or actual bank account numbers, Apple will use complex codes that are used only once to transmit the data.
It’s not clear who will handle the token side of Apple’s wireless payments business, the company already has a patent on the matter that suggests Apple has been considering tokenization technology since 2009.
“[Tokenization] certainly addresses security and fraud…there’s another part of the story — tokens provide innovators with flexible, purposed, and driven credentials in their customers’ experiences instead of actual data,” Visa’s vice president of digital solutions Brad Greene said. “If tokens are intercepted by an attacker… [they] would be worthless or greatly diminish.”
In addition to revealing this additional security measure for protecting NFC-based transactions that will soon be available to iPhone 6 users (and later to iWatch buyers), Bank Innovation has also been able to verify that Apple has been deploying NFC-ready Verifone MX 915 devices for its point-of-sale terminals in retail stores in anticipation of the iPhone 6 launch – the same devices have been spotted in Bloomingdale’s stores. Apparently, Bank Innovation was prohibited from actually taking pictures of the MX 915 machines in stores.
Apple will announce the iPhone 6 and iWatch on Tuesday during a special media event.
