RFID coming to iPhones?

It's annoying to put a toll transponder on your windshield?

You know, back in my day we had to actually STOP AND THROW COINS IN A BASKET. Oh the horror.

Isn't RFID dangerous? I thought I saw a few articles maybe even on this site that suggested it was pretty much evil.

@David
Cellphones have never caused gas station fires.
The story you cite is out of date. The fire chief says it was not the phone.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

The idea of using a cellphone to pay for gas is one of the more stupid I have read recently.

Electrical devices such as cellphones can cause sparks, and therefore can ignite flammable vapour like petrol. Petrol dispensing equipment and electronics is designed specifically to avoid this - phones are not.

That's why gas station forecourts have "cellphone use banned" signs and pictograms on the pumps, telling people not to use them. Of course, there is a large number of selfish, ignorant fools who are so self-centred and tuned to indolent laziness that they don't even SEE these signs, let alone take note of them.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/14/tech/main617547.shtml

A "contactless" credit card is far more secure than existing magnetic stripe cards. The chip generates a one time password that ensures each transaction is unique. Even if intercepted the data cannot be replayed, and the data is insufficient to create another card. How many times have you handed over your magstripe credit card to a waiter/waitress at a restaurant? "Skimming" magstripe cards *is* a major source of fraud. So contactless/RFID/NFC increases security.

If Apple chooses to incorporate NFC, it will be the catalyst for widespread adoption of the technology. In the meantime, take a look at other solutions in the works like www.tapwallet.com.

Well, I definitely know one place where this will be heavily used. Japan.

All of the competing phones have had RFID capability for a long time there. People have gotten used to paying for transit, vending machines, fast food using RFID.

Now if only they would work to ensure that I could put a MiFare transit card on it, then i'm all for it. For now, I'll have to settle for PayPass. At least it gets me my Tim Hortons in the morning.

Even if the iPhone was chipped (instead of being a reader as this article discusses) it could not be used as a FastPath transponder. FastPath is a completely different radio technology and frequency than the type of RFID discussed and demonstrated here.

I work with RFID. There are lots of dreams and fantasies about RFID, but reality is nowhere near what you describe and it will not happen in 10 years. If you research RFID you will find that 10 years ago it was "guaranteed" that every retail product would have an RFID tag today. Hahhaha!

Can't wait for the jailbrake app that boosts the power of the reader chip and lets me scan your creditcard through your wallet and pants.

I didn't know Mobil still had the speed pass.
I had one. But then I moved to Iowa. Seems there is not one Mobil station in the state of Iowa. Every surrounding state is loaded with them.

sounds good, but i'm so wary of RFID security.

I'll want a bag like this... http://www.paraben-forensics.com/rfid-passport-security.html
or my iPhone cases will have to come with some sort of protection.