Prepare to 'iShop' with the iPhone

According to industry insiders, Apple is already testing iPhones equipped with RFID readers, which it is expected to include with the next major upgrade to the line. Apple has  recently been granted a number of patents related to RFID technologies.

RFID (radio frequency identification) tags can cheaply be embedded into products as a replacement for barcodes by transmitting data wirelessly over short distances. RFID can also be used by devices to make payments, just as many transport systems use intelligent cards instead of tickets.

Not only can RFID tags offer much more information than either a barcode or reading the side of say a bottle of wine, they can, experts claim, also make it harder to pass off counterfeit goods.

RFID-equipped handsets could also be used to pay for a range of goods and services ranging like transport and to gain admittance to large sporting or musical events.

They're all at it

Earlier this month Motorola announced the MC3100, a ruggedised handset designed for business functions like inventory control and delivery. The company, as well as other handset makers are all developing RFID smartphones for the consumer market.

Last month IBM used its Information on Demand conference to show off a prototype iPhone app called Breadcrumbs, designed for shoppers who own RFID-equipped iPhones. Apart from displaying the standard product information one might expect to find on a product's packaging, the app, which can pull data from the web can also provide updates on whether the product has been recalled, for example, as well as how many are available etc. It can also flag up whether the product is a grocery list etc.

IBM has not yet announced when it will release the app, but it seems unlikely that it would show it off, unless it believed that Apple intends to add RFID to the next iPhone.