There are always lots of rumors flying around in the tech world, but this time the “hot new thing” seems  to be more than vaporware. Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group cites “engineers who are working on hardware” for Apple’s latest project as evidence that NFC capabilities are being built into the upcoming generation of iOS devices. NFC stands for “Near Field Communications”, and enables the short-range transfer of data through a device.  Sounds boring?  Well, imagine having the ability to tap your phone against an enabled pad to pay for things (with the credit card data transferring through your sim card) and this technology becomes much more exciting.  Payments via NFC have seen both increasing press coverage and increasing adoption among big name retailers in the west, and this technology is already commonplace in Japan. Doherty also predicts that Apple will make its move into the field with some new hardware and an accompanying update to iTunes. Apple’s concept would allow iTunes gift card balances and credit card information stored with Apple to be used as payments at compatible retail outlets… just by waving your phone close to the register.  It also appears that Apple is planning to  entice users away from competitors with loyalty credits and points. There are already a couple of software patent applications from the company detailing other potential uses for the technology. All of this could mean absolutely nothing, rumors being what they are, but this sure does walk like an NFC duck and quack like an NFC duck…so don’t worry about making an educated guess here.