At least one of Apple's upcoming iPhones - probably the iPhone 6 but possibly the iPhone 5, will have an NFC chip installed according to the latest rumours, which also suggest that NFC will form part of an impressive remote-computing strategy.
A 'source close to the company' told CultofMac that Apple is currently testing a series of prototype iPhones with NFC technology.
This comes as no surprise, but a network operator recently told the Independent that Apple is holding back on NFC until a clear industry standard is in place.
So when CultofMac's source can't say whether we'll see NFC make it to this summer's iPhone 5 upgrade, we're inclined to think this means we'll be waiting until the iPhone 6 launches in 2012.
Remote control
However, the anonymous source did talk at length about a project that allows an NFC-enabled iPhone user to pair with another computer, which then loads a remote desktop to make it seem as though the user is at their own Mac.
The system uses the Mac App Store to include the icons of apps you've already purchased, but doesn't physically download them until you want to use them on the host computer.
At this point, the apps are temporarily downloaded, with access ending as soon as the NFC connection is terminated.
File-safe
Apple is also working on a way of saving files created within apps on the host computer so that you can access them on your home computer; probably by syncing with MobileMe.
The remote-access system is very much 'in development', however, and there's no guarantee we'll ever see it made available to the public, butwith elements of the system supposedly already present in the beta of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, it's looking good.
Now all we need is that darned NFC-enabled iPhone…
Via CultofMac
