Agree with most of that. Apple has the unique ability to control both the hardware and software which lends itself to a lot of efficiencies. However, battery life is not one of them.

Most of the Andriod phones today have batteries that last longer than the iPhones. My iPhone barely makes it to dinnertime most days. From what I hear from colleagues, I'm actually quite lucky to have it last that long. I do try to keep my battery properly conditioned and cool (heat is the enemy of LiIon battery long term health).

Perhaps Android phones just use higher capacity batteries, or perhaps their chipsets use less power or both. This is an area Apple could use some improvement in. Is it bad enough that I wouldn't buy an iPhone, certainly not, but it is disappointing.

No, the poster is not referring to external keyboards but rather alternate, on-screen keyboards (as opposed to the Apple provided one).

The most common example would be "Swype"
http://www.swype.com/

Regards

The iPhone 5s battery is actually pretty good. It is on par with my Note 2 and it does last thru the day. The iPhone 6 plus is supposed to have almost twice the battery life of 5s...

If any company can pull it off, I think Apple can. The technology isn't new, it uses the same "speedpass" (or whatever they're called) sensors that many stores already have.

As far as the fees go, that's an interesting thought. Marinate on this scenario: Merchants today pay a fee to VS/MC/AX for every CC transaction. Por ejemplo: 25 cents + 1% of the transaction fee. If Apple's model cuts their processing out in favor of going directly to the issuing banks...they could offer a lower rate. They don't require all the infrastructure that VS/MC/AX need to be able to network/process transactions. They just need the software for their phones which are already networked. I don't believe this is the plan today, but it would be an interesting business model if it were...

It will be interesting to learn more about Apple Pay as it comes out. On their site they have a list of merchants and banks that will participate.

http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/apple-pay/

But you just stated it, retailers will have to replace their current PEDs (PIN entry device) with new PTS (PIN Transaction Security) devices as the mandate for EMV comes to realization. Many of these new devices come with NFC as an interface to accept payments.

I have a feeling that the merchants may not see the "fee" for Apple Pay. As this article states, the banks will be paying Apple a tiny fee.
http://www.electronista.com/articles...n.discussions/

I'm going to pre-order a (Verizon) Apple iPhablet on Friday. Left Apple two years ago and went to Android for the larger screen (Samsung Galaxy S3.) The new Moto X looks pretty great but once Apple offered the bigger screens I knew I'd be back on an iPhone.

I don't understand what extra security that chip and electronic signature offers over signing the merchant copy of the receipt. The chip authenticates the card and I totally understand how that helps prevent the use of cloned cards. But if you've lost your card and haven't either noticed it or have been unable to report it, then they can still use your card if they can forge your signature.

The merchant fees are going to have to be comparable with Mastercard/Visa for this Apple Pay, as the reason a lot of retailers I know in this country don't accept Amex is because of the high fees.

Well, ok - you and a dozen other programmers might make a buying decision based on efficiency of clock cycles. The rest of us will probably put size, looks, screen size, thinness, battery life, cost, and about 200 other parameters ahead of that in our decision trees. @:-)

I didn't say it did. Just providing a data point. And yes, it does.

The chip is there so you can't duplicate the card if you happen to get "track data". I don't think the card brands are as concerned about you losing your physical card as they are about losing 40 million records from one merchant. Data which in turn can be used to create cloned cards.

Well if everyone had adopted chip and pin then the risk of cloned cards would be greatly reduced. Then the data that was compromised in the recent breaches would be of less interest. It will be interesting to see how Apple are using the tokenisation technology in the Apple Pay system.

I never said that played into my buying decision. I was just explaining in layman's terms how Apple gets similar performance with weaker specs on paper. I make my purchase decision on which device does what I need it to do best. In fairness, looks don't play into it for me and if they did I'd be a hard core religious Apple fanboi like planemechanic.

Apple makes pretty machines, for sure.

As it is, I'll have a tough time deciding between iPhone 6+, Note 4, and the next Nexus device this fall.

I would note that Home Depot Canada was compromised by the attack. Presumably most of their transactions were Chip & PIN. That said, I have a hard time believing that the reader could download the entire chip. I've always been surprised how slow C&P devices seem to be.

OK, but I never got the "Apple makes pretty machines" meme for iPhones. They make thick phones compared to Androids, from what I've seen.

Overseas won't start to roll out until next year and you'll still need physical cards until it becomes ubiquitous. The forced move to chip terminals in the US might help hasten that transition and there's some conjecture that the US issuers might move from chip & sign to chip & pin next year after some patent expires. No idea if that part of it is true or not.