• Fast Company, Monday, August 16, 2010 5:09 PM

In a sure sign of trouble for the credit card companies, Apple has hired an expert in near-field communications to be its new product manager for mobile commerce. "This is big news, in ways you may not immediately grasp," writes Fast Company. "Propelled by Apple's cachet and iPhone's appeal, wireless payment tech may now be about to sweep over the world."

The new hire Benjamin Vigier, has been working in NFC for a number of years flash memory firm Sandisk and Bouygues Telecom in France, among other companies. At mFoundry, a mobile payments firm, he was responsible for PayPal Mobile and Starbuck's mobile service, which made use of unique on-screen barcodes for payments. "He's basically one of the big go-to guys if you're interested in cell phone payment systems," notes Fast Company. For the uninitiated, Near-field comms is how some contact-free metro, train and bus ticketing systems work, and relies on very short-range radio signals to send data between two systems. Simply put, Apple mobile devices will eventually substitute for consumers' credit cards. What's more, retailers will likely be able to transmit ads to the phones, along with loyalty card points, free apps, games, and the like.

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