Apple : Apple 'holding back' on entering NFC mobile payment game

Apple 'holding back' on entering NFC mobile payment game
Don't forget: DNSChanger malware could kill your internet on Monday
Apple acknowledges app-crashing bug, now resolved, was their fault

Apple 'holding back' on entering NFC mobile payment game

Posted:

Apple has adopted a wait an see attitude towards mobile payments after deep-rooted discussions within the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While Google Wallet and credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard and Barclaycard forge ahead with their NFC-based solutions, Apple is yet to enter that arena.

The WSJ reports that taking on the emerging market was seriously discussed, but for now the company opted with to go with the Passbook app - launched within iOS 6 at WWDC last month.

Passbook will users to collate their vouchers, coupons, plane tickets and store cards, but does not offer any immeditate indication that a mobile payments service like Google Wallet will be launched.

Ambitions scaled back, for now

The article, paraphrasing an unnamed Apple executive, says the company wanted to take advantage of the 400m credit cards registered to iTunes, with a view to creating Apple's own payment network or teaming up with an existing service and taking a cut.

Scott Forstall's iOS software development team were encouraged to "brainstorm a comprehensive wallet app," but amibtions were eventually scaled back.

Beyond software, the company also investigated new NFC technologies, but decided at this point that the chips would be too great a drain on the iPhone's battery life.

When the mobile payment discussions came to an executive review in early 2012, many "baulked" at the idea, amid further fears over slow vendor adoption, and we ended up with Passbook.

Of course, between now and the final launch of iOS 6, expected this autumn, we could see a new version of Passbook to complement an NFC-enabled iPhone 5 device, kick-starting Apple's entry into the arena. For now, it's a definite wait and see.

However, It's likely to happen sooner rather than later, as analyst Gene Munster says: "They let their competitors do their market research for them."

Don't forget: DNSChanger malware could kill your internet on Monday

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A prolific trojan called DNSChanger could soon prevent hundreds of thousands of Mac and Windows PCs from connecting to the internet.

On Monday, the FBI plans to shut down defenses that have been in place for months, cutting the estimated 275,000 still-infected computers off from the internet.

To check if your PC is infected with DNSChanger, head to the DNS Changer Working Group's (DCWG) check tool. If the box is green, you're good to go.

If the box is red, your internet will go dead on Monday, July 9, but The DWCG has a whole arsenal of tools ready to use.

Another solution lies with McAfee's DNS checker, which will reportedly aid you in removing the harmful trojan should your computer be infected.

FBI Operation Ghost Click

The DNSChanger malware began circulating in 2007, redirecting infected computers to pirate DNS servers that stole users' personal information.

The criminal endeavor was thwarted last November, when the FBI arrested its six Estonian masterminds.

But rather than shut down the servers, thus switching the internet off for any infected computers, the FBI chose to temporarily legitimize them in anticipation of a more permanent solution.

Thus was born the FBI's "Operation Ghost Click," which is being shut down on July 9.

Google tried to warn you

Google began warning users of the impending internet implosion in May.

Google search users with DNSChanger-infected computers began seeing messages at the tops of their search results prompting them to "take action" against the trojan.

The search giant used its ubiquity to warn as many potential victims as possible, though there are still as many as 275,000 infected computers.

So try as they might to get the word out, internet service providers are still likely going to get a lot of irate calls on Monday.

Apple acknowledges app-crashing bug, now resolved, was their fault

Posted:

Apple has accepted the blame for Thursday's spate of app crashes, which affected well over 100 apps and an unknown number of customers worldwide.

The company said late Thursday that the problem was on one of their servers, but that it's now been resolved.

"We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded," Apple said in a statement.

"The issue has been rectified and we don't expect it to occur again," they added, claiming that only a small number of users were affected.

The bug caused freshly updated apps across a range of Apple devices to crash upon being opened, before even reaching their splash screens.

Users with a broken app can re-download it from the App Store to fix the crashing bug, but there's no need to delete and reinstall, as that may cause data to be lost.

Apple's FairPlay DRM to blame?

Several developers, including Fugitive Pixels CEO Francisco Castillo and Readdle CEO Igor Zhadanov, yesterday blamed Apple's FairPlay DRM for the crashes.

It seems likely that the DRM Apple mentions in their statement is indeed the FairPlay scheme, although Apple didn't name it specifically.

The damage is done

Although Apple claims only a small number of users were affected, the damage to many developers' reputations is already done.

Instapaper creator Marco Arment spent yesterday compiling a list of all affected apps before giving up due to the sheer number of reports he was receiving.

Arment wrote on his blog that he was "deluged by support email and Twitter messages" from irate customers "within minutes" of his app's new update going live.

Similarly, Metronome+ developer Joe LeBlanc wrote to TechRadar yesterday that users of his app in the US, Japan, Korea, Germany, and France flooded his inbox with complaints as soon as his new update went live.

"It's frustrating," he said. "I've already gotten slammed in the reviews (for example nine 1 stars in Japan - my biggest market) because users are not able to use my app and they don't know why."

That doesn't sound like it's coming from a small, isolated number of users, as Apple claims, and it may be hard for some smaller developers, like Guerra por Votos creator Castillo, to bounce back.

"I'm extremely pissed off," Castillo wrote to TechRadar yesterday.

Yahuui Blog

Saturday, July 7, 2012