Apple Inc. (AAPL) Looking Ways For iTunes Gifting via NFC

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) wants iTunes users to send music, movies, television shows, apps, and books as gifts. The tech giant published a new patent with the US  Patent and Trademark  Office for this feature on Thursday.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Looking Ways For iTunes Gifting via NFC

Apple iTunes gift with NFC

The user purchases the gift on iTunes and the charge goes on their credit card and the gift recipient then receives the file. iTunes users could also send gifts without being online. It would work by sending a locked version of the gift to the recipient’s device with NFC. This means the giver and recipient will need to be near each other for this transaction to work. When the users are back online, the recipient’s device contacts Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s servers and the account gets charged.

More details about Apple’s iTunes gift patent

The patent goes more into detail, “An offer and acceptance of a selected gift file is accomplished between a gifter device and a receiving giftee device using a near-field communication (NFC) connection. If a connection to the online provider is available, the gifter device may transmit a gift request by which the gifter’s account is charged for the gift file. Thereafter, a gift file created using DRM keys associated with the giftee’s account may be downloaded to the giftee device. If a network connection is unavailable, the giftee device may transfer a locked gift file and a corresponding gift license to the giftee device using a peer-to-peer connection. The giftee device may authenticate the license and unlock the gift file once a connection to the online provider is available.”

Apple to allow users to gift individual content

Since everyone loves iTunes and iTunes gift cards as presents, it makes sense that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would allow users to gift individual content purchases. Since most people have ditched compact discs and digital video discs for streaming and digital content downloads instead. This patent has yet to come to life but if it does, it could be a significant move for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

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