Although of course Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hasn’t officially said that it will show off the iPhone 6 on Sept. 9, the company has officially scheduled an event for that date. According to The Loop‘s Jim Dalrymple, the company has sent out media invitations to an event on that date. It is widely expected that Apple will show off the iPhone 6 at the event—and possibly the iWatch as well.
iPhone 6 coming Sept. 9?
The press invitation simply gives the date, the location and the phrase: “Wish we could say more.” Over the last few years, Apple has shown off new iPhones at an event in September, although sometimes the event has gone into October. As a result, it doesn’t take much of a leap to say that the iPhone 6 will be unveiled.
This year, however, the company is at least slightly changing it up. Usually Apple holds its events at either its campus in Cupertino, Calif. or at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center. This time the company has planned the event for Cupertino’s Flint Center for the Performing Arts.
iPhone 6 to feature NFC, mobile payments
Supposed leaks about the iPhone 6 have been coming out every day, and the flood of rumors about what to expect has turned into a deluge. Just today, there’s another report that the smartphone will feature near field communication (NFC), along with a new mobile payments system developed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). According to Wired, Apple’s mobile payments platform will, unsurprisingly, involve the use of NFC.
Wired is the latest website to report that the iPhone 6 will have a mobile payments system and NFC. The site’s sources said the iPhone 6 will have “its own payment platform” that will be “one of the hallmark features of the device.” Of course the rumor isn’t new, and it’s been said time and again that Apple should get into the mobile payments industry. The company already has a massive database of more than 800 million credit cards stored in iTunes.
In addition to speculations about mobile payments, Apple has filed several patents related to a mobile payment platform. Just this year, the company described a system that uses dual wireless protocols like Bluetooth and NFC to complete a transaction while securely storing data in the hardware.
What about the iWatch?
So will the iPhone 6 be the only new gadget unveiled by Apple on Sept. 9? Of course it’s anyone’s guess, but this week we did hear from Re/code that the iWatch will also be unveiled at the event. But while the iPhone 6 will probably go on sale about ten days after the unveiling, it’s less clear exactly when consumers will be able to buy the rumored iWatch. Reports about delays suggest it could be October or later before the device goes on sale.
