Amir Efrati, Senior Reporter for The Information is reporting today that "Conversations between Apple and payments-industry companies have heated up in recent months, with several people briefed on the talks saying that Apple executives have discussed launching a mobile wallet as soon as this fall for people to use their iPhones to pay for goods in physical stores.

Apple has long been expected to make such a move, but it's been cautious so far amid failed efforts by Google and others to enable payments and other transactions by phone. Now, though, the company's plans are coming into greater focus.

Apple has told some partners its system would involve a so-called secured element in the phones—a piece of hardware where sensitive information such as a phone owner's financial credentials can be stored. The company also aims to run the system without giving up any control to wireless carriers."

This doesn't come as much of a surprise to us who have been following Apple's long list of patent applications on a future iWallet going back four years now. Our most recent report on a future iWallet was posted in May which was titled "Apple Reaches Agreement with China UnionPay for iWallet."

Apple has been using their new Touch ID feature to act as an instant pass to make purchases on iTunes since its debut on the iPhone 5S. It was at that time that we first learned about Apple's "Secure Enclave." This is where "a phone owner's financial credentials can be stored," as Efrati phrases it.

To view the rest of the report from The Information click here (paid subscription required.) The reporter of this story is Amir Efrati who was with the Wall Street Journal for nine years and was first to report on Bernie Madoff's arrest. He also broke major news about Madoff's epic fraud. Only time will tell if Efrati's current report on Apple's iWallet coming to market this fall actually pans out.



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