It seems that the mobile wallet platform that's being developed by the manufacturer of the most popular smartphone in the U.S. is coming closer to reality, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently signed off on a number of new patents.
Many aspects of Apple's iWallet mobile payment system, which has largely been expected for the next iPhone, are becoming clearer thanks to a slew of new patents that were approved by the U.S. government earlier this week, according to a report from the International Business Times. A number of patents were issued for the technology earlier this month, but a second round of approvals this week brings further clarity to the technology of the forthcoming system.
For one thing, users will be able to store, view information about and manage several credit cards at once through iWallet, the report said. But perhaps more important are the numerous security features that will help consumers keep their finances safe, including parental controls, the ability to establish authorization requests for other users of an account, as well as flag potentially fraudulent purchases from within the app itself.
The flagging feature could work well with all the other features, because it will allow consumers to review their entire recent purchase history on a given account and, if they notice anything suspicious, alert their bank with a few gestures, the report said. Then, the bank will contact them quickly to further discuss the situation.
Given that the iPhone is the most popular smartphone in the U.S., many experts say that if any single device can push mobile wallet use into the mainstream, it will be Apple's. In the past, consumers have expressed a hesitance to adopt this type of payment platform over security concerns.
