If you’ve decided you want to take near field communication technology for a test drive you have several options for getting started. Here’s what EMV means in practice: a transaction between a chip-enabled credit card and an EMV-enabled payment terminal or ATM. And here’s why you need to know about it: EMV will soon become the technological standard for credit card processing in the United States. Because Apple Pay works through Touch ID, things are pretty locked down even if your phone is stolen.
We’re switching over to EMV cards (aka chip cards) because they’re leagues more secure than the magnetic-stripe cards we currently carry EMV cards contain a tiny, dynamic computer chip that talks back and forth with the payments terminal to make sure you’re not a fraudster. “NFC stands for near field communication.” Basically, it’s the technology that allows smartphones and other devices (like a payments reader) to communicate with each other when they’re close together. NFC enables contactless payments, which are transactions that require no physical contact between the payments device and the payments reader. There are plenty of printed options to choose from the fit your iPhone 6 NFC needs.
To trigger an Apple Pay payment, you hold your iPhone 6 or Apple Watch up to an NFC-enabled reader The devices have to be pretty close — a couple inches at the most. What’s more, contactless payments like Apple Pay contain multiple layers of dynamic encryption. EMV credit cards are processed differently than magstripe cards—they’re dipped instead of swiped.
An RFID smart card reader is equipped with the technology that allows it to communicate wirelessly with other devices or objects. An RFID smart card reader could be a device that allows employees to key-in via an office badge, or a payments reader that can process both NFC credit cards and mobile payments like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay. EMV credit cards contain a tiny computer chip with more sophisticated security features than magstripe cards.
NFC cards are equipped with RFID technology that allows customers to tap to pay. NFC credit cards do not need to be inserted into payments reader. Customers just hover or tap their card over the payments reader to initiate the transaction. NFC rumors have been swirling around the iPhone 6 for the last few months. By now the NFC rumors would have stopped, but instead more and more details are emerging.
