A model holds the latest iPhone 4 (with an attached Bluetooth device) during a promotional event in Hong Kong Thursday July 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Call it the iWallet.
Apple's upcoming versions of the iPhone and iPad will come equipped with the ability to make purchases, according to a published report.
Expected to be released later this year, the new devices will incorporate "ear-field communication" (NFC) that allows the secure transmission of information to and from a receiver up to four inches away, consultants told Bloomberg News.
This could provide an alternative to tap-and-go payment systems such as MasterCard's PayPass, and allow Apple to get a percentage of the sale of a wide variety of consumer goods.
Apple built a payment terminal prototype that would allow businesses to take payments from NFC-enabled iPhones and iPads, said Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group.
These terminals may be given away to retailers as part of a push to get the technology widely adopted.
Using the new iPhones and iPads, it could even be possible to pass money from one device to another.
Read more at the New York Post.
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