If we read between the lines, an announcement at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month could be a boon to mobile commerce.

With a user base of over 500 million people and hundreds of millions of credit card details on file, could an Apple flavoured m-commerce solution be in the offing?
 
Those two facts combined have led to speculation that the firm will release a mobile payment solution with the iPhone 6. The argument goes that it's unlikely that Apple would open its Touch ID technology API to third party developers, an announcement made at the recent developers conference, if it didn't have a m-commerce solution. 
 
But what does that mean for the travel industry, where alternative payment options, and in particular via mobile, are a growing focus. A report by WorldPay, in late 2013, into an alternative payment and distribution landscape for airlines found that:

• 57% of 56 airlines surveyed believe mobile has the greatest potential to drive revenue over the next two years
• 32% of airlines are planning to offer mobile payments within the next two years
• 89% will adopt alternative payment methods to meet customer demand
• 64% expect to see costs savings from alternative payment methods 

Until now, the payment experience on a mobile device has been viewed as too fiddly and too insecure. After all, Apple had initially rolled out its fingerprint recognition technology in iOS 7 but within a walled garden.

This allowed users to unlock their phone or authenticate purchases but only from Apple's own stores – probably to keep potential security issues closer to home. But Apple's recent opening to competition suggests that those security concerns have been allayed.

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