Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iWallet May be First Creative Leap for Tech Giant in Post-Steve Jobs Era

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may be on the verge of their first major creative leap in the post-Steve Jobs era of the company’s history according to former Apple CEO John Sculley. Speaking to Bloomberg this morning, Sculley expressed optimism in how the iWallet, expected to be unveiled tomorrow, could be a major game-changer for the company.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

“I’ve been wondering for over a year why Apple hasn’t made a move into mobile payments, and I speculated about a year ago, ‘gee, Apple could go out and buy Ebay and get PayPal’, but I think now that the stars are aligning,” Sculley said.

As Sculley said, there was some question over whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would ever achieve the same kind of creative leaps that were commonplace under Jobs’ leadership and vision. As he said, while new iPhones and the like will undoubtedly be great products and bring some innovation to the table, they are not creative leaps, but rather gradual improvements upon that creative leap that already took place when the first iPhone took the smartphone world by storm.

While the iWatch has been getting a good deal of hype as a product that could revolutionize its industry and usher in another iconic product for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Sculley believes the iWallet is the one that has the potential to be a great leap for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), with the ability to make use of their 800 million iTunes accounts linked to credit cards in a way that they have not yet been able to do in a meaningful way, revenue-wise. Convincing even a fraction of those users to make use of iWallet for all their purchases would generate a large revenue windfall for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Paypal, with about 150 million active users, had revenue of $1.85 billion in the first quarter of this year alone.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is rumored to be working with the three major credit card companies on their new mobile wallet, and utilizing NFC technology directly incorporated into their new iPhone and possibly iWatch, to facilitate those payments. The iWallet will reportedly be able to complete purchases with just a tap of the mobile or wearable device, followed by the required TouchID fingerprint authentication for each purchase.

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