From hype to reality (RCR Mobile Minute)

Mobile Minute
Fall brings cooler temperatures and even cooler new products to wireless each year, and this year’s devices could also cool some of the recent hype surrounding the connected lifestyle. We’ve all heard about mobile payments, mobile health tracking, and smart “wrist wear,” but this year Apple and its competitors seem likely to deliver devices that will start to separate the hype from the real functionality.
Today Wired reported that Apple will include a mobile payments platform with the upcoming iPhone, expected to launch September 9. Google and PayPal offer mobile payments platforms now, as do AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US through the Isis platform. But Apple has something that its competitors do not — more than 800 million credit card numbers on file thanks to its iTunes store. That means users could potentially start paying from their phones without entering any payment information.
Smart watches may become more useful this fall as well, again thanks to Apple. Re/code reports that September 9 will also bring an iWatch, which will integrate with Apple’s HealthKit and HomeKit. Right now some of the popular wristbands that track health and fitness need to be connected to a smartphone in order to share data; it sounds like the iWatch may skip that step.
Speaking of skipping the smartphone, Samsung has already launched a watch that does just that. The company’s new Gear S has a 3G radio so that users can access mobile data directly.
Samsung may or may not have to compete with Apple in the smart watch market this fall, but the two companies will almost certainly have competing smartphone offerings. We’ll know more after Apple’s September 9 launch event. For more on that see today’s video.