Apple Testing Proximity-Powered Prototypes Today; Likely To Appear In iPhone 5

Over the weekend it was reported that Apple hired Benjamin Vigier , an expert in near field communication (NFC), a short range wireless protocol most synonymous with contactless payments. This key Apple hire is perhaps the strongest public signal yet of Apple’s intent to use NFC to build on its micropayments franchise and disrupt traditional point of sale using a mobile commerce model. There is no doubt that Apple wants to enable native support for mobile payments and authentication—its myriad of patents and installed base of 100M active iTunes accounts with credit cards on file make this a no-brainer. But I’ve learned of an even more revealing sign that Apple will integrate the technology—sources tell me that Apple has built NFC-enabled iPhone prototypes using hardware from NXP Semiconductor , and is testing mobile payments today (NXP is the market leader in NFC and just hired Goldman Sachs to run its IPO).