Apple has reportedly acquired Montreal’s Mobeewave for US $100 million in a deal which could see iPhone’s turned into contactless payment terminals.
Mobeewave’s technology allows shoppers to tap their credit cards or smartphones on another phone to process a payment. Further, the system works with an app and doesn’t require hardware other than a Near Field Communications (NFC) chip. iPhones have included NFC chips since 2014.
The firm has agreements in place with National Bank of Canada, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and Polskie Platnosci.
Mobeewave already has a contract in place to incorporate its technology into Samsung handsets. The Apple rival is also an investor in Mobeewave.
According to several reports, all Mobeewave employees will work for Apple out of Montreal.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” an Apple spokesman told Bloomberg.
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