Apple Watch Enable Wallet-free Lifestyle

Apple Pay,  but Security experts have concerns over health data

 

First came the new iPhones, and talk of Apple Pay, a new ditch-your-wallet digital payment system.

Then Apple CEO Tim Cook invoked the late Steve Jobs’ magic words, saying dramatically, and with a smirk: “We have one more thing.”

Enter the much-rumored Apple Watch.

The stylish and sophisticated Apple Watch (note it lacks the “i” in front), is due out in early 2015, and will start at $349. It requires an iPhone 5 or newer to use, which covers some 200 million iPhone users.

“We believe this product will redefine what people expect from this category,” Cook said. “It’s the most personal device we’ve ever created.”

That’s not just because Watch is designed to be worn on your wrist. Watch may be the most trackable gadget yet to be produced by the folks at Cupertino, Calif. It has four distinct sensors on the back; these four rings use both infrared sensors and photosensors to detect heart rate. It also has an accelerometer to detect one’s motions. And it supports NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions using the new Apple Pay service, just as on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

With one device able to collect so much data about you, should you be worried?

 

The experts we’ve spoken with say Apple seems to have taken the right steps, though much remains unknown about how Watch’s health data will be handled.

The Apple Pay system, in particular, appears solid. Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, notes that there’s nothing really new here; we’ve seen tap-and-go payment systems before. In fact, Apple is late to the NFC party: Google first introduced NFC on a phone four years ago.

The way Pay works is simple, and builds on Apple’s Passbook, introduced in 2012. Payment “passes” are added to Passbook by credit card issuers and banks; then, one simply selects an account on that network.