wanderso

Soli said:

My only concern about the student IDs via NFC if they will work when the device has no battery power. While that's certainly handy, I don't think it's safe that someone could lose or have an iPhone stolen and then when the power runs out it will still allow access to dorm by pressing the Sleep/Wake button. 

caladanian said:

Please explain what “open loop” technology for London tube is - and it’s (dis)advantage is. 

I think this will answer everything for you:

• https://clearbridgemobile.com/open-vs-closed-loop-mobile-payments/

LukeCage said:

Well most disruptions don't start off with people trying to actually disrupt an industry, they just try to get a niche and the rest is history. However in this case, Apple being as big as it is, if they said that they were trying, they would have regulatory boards in America and Europe all over them. For Apple to disrupt the credit card industry, imo, they would have to go after the banks, but banks now are much bigger and more powerful than they used to be. I'm not saying it's impossible but it's would be a pretty hard task to accomplish. 

I believe Apple choose the best solution and I'm happy to say it's the solution I proffered years before Apple Pay was ever introduced. My only wish is that the extra security for using Apple Pay would result in lower transaction fees for retailers which would help them advertise this option more, and for mom-and-pop shops with discreet card readers that have mostly supported Apple Pay (and all other NFC-based scanners to have the company that supplies the device notify them that they can take these *Pay payments.

If anyone wants to help with increasing the saturation in your area you can order—free of charge—register and door stickers from Apple that you can give to those businesses when you come across them. I don't do it for Apple; I do it for myself, because the sooner I can reach a tipping point where I can more freely not carry my physical cards on me the more convenient my life will be.

• https://www.applepaysupplies.com/home

The newest iPhone supports an option to still work for NFC with a dead battery.  

In respect to a person finding a lost iPhone and using it to gain access to a building, this is also true for any employee and student ID that is lost.  In most cases, there is no need to show your photo ID to access a building; one just taps the badge to the reader.  A thief gets the same access as a student or employee if the card isn’t reported as lost.   Using a phone’s NFC can mean some security loss in that the person’s face is not associated with building access. I suppose that an added safety feature of Apple’s method is that Face ID on the newest phones would be a potential means to verify that the person accessing the building is in fact the phone’s owner and appropriate to gain access. 

On the transit pass comment, Portland, Oregon’s Trimet already supports Apple Pay.  It has since summer 2017.  I have to think that Portland is not the only US city to support Apple Pay for transit. 

It’s funny - I have CarPlay in a Pioneer deck I installed in our car and I actually prefer the phone to be wired, rather than wireless. Why:

*battery being charged while driving, especially important when using navigation (battery hog)
*very reliable connectivity for voice calls; more so than my experience with Bluetooth
*phone is away from my hands so that I’m not tempted to break the law in our state and handle it while driving

There are other reasons, but these top my list. 

A nice potential use for this solution could be to have a secondary account that is used primarily for data and switch between the two for coverage and data cap purposes.   For example: TMobile has less coverage but I’ve found their network to be faster in our local area than Verizon and AT&T.  

I have an iPhone 5s that I bought right after the launch event. It has been an excellent phone. I replaced the battery awhile back to get a bit more life out of it. I also have an Apple Watch Series 0.  Finally, I carry a 7 Plus for work. It was purchased for the purpose of battery life maximized when tethering.  The 5s is AT&T while the 7 Plus is Verizon. 

I really like that the XS supports 2 SIM cards and can be on more than one network. In theory this could allow a person like me to only carry around one phone. Unfortunately, the work phone has added encryption requirements for email and VM Ware AirWatch (security policy) that I am required to have enabled, along with a second Apple ID. Alas, the hope of consolidating to one phone while still keeping personal data, apps, and email totally separate from work doesn’t seem possible at this time.  (Nope, I can’t use Apple Mail with 2 separate accounts in this particular case).  There likely are many others who have a scenario similar to mine that is less stringent who CAN drop down to carrying one phone). Having both AT&T and Verizon on the same phone would be awesome.   

128 GB is what I see as the minimum on board storage to have based on my use. 

What I like about the XR is that the price difference compared to an XS would allow me to purchase a new phone to replace my 5S AND also upgrade my Apple Watch for $49 more than an XS alone.

XS 256 GB $1149
XR 128 GB $799
Apple Watch Series 4 $399

One thing that spooks me: why isn’t Apple offering the XR as “carrier free” (unlocked) at this time?

There are some nice features of the XS over the XR, but to me, the upgrade of the Apple Watch at the same time outweighs those benefits. 

My 5s is a good lesson that performance specs are what gets longevity out of a phone, at least in my case.  I know that there is appeal to not being on the “S” upgrade cycle for many due to new form factors, but the S series (3GS, 4S, 5S) has worked well for me.  The end of carrier phone subsidies did influence my not staying on a 2 year upgrade cycle of the past and being content with “good enough”.  I will miss the smaller form factor of the 5S. 

Hmm... based on her history (Newton), she is well-versed in failed products.  Product marketing folks are typically the team that works to develop the product roadmap based on technology innovation, understanding of the market, etc.  

Newton was a flawed product that eventually worked, but too late. Palm capitalized on the handwriting recognition using a simplified solution.  

The last Newton I used at a PC Expo tradeshow booth in 1998 in NYC. It was coupled to an IR scanner that would read barcodes of visitors to our booth who were interested in our tech product.  Clunky by today’s standards, but it worked.