So long as the restaurant or store you’re in has an NFC-enabled register, Apple Pay is already pretty damn useful, but that isn’t stopping Apple from making it even more so. According to Patently Apple, the company has patented a way for Apple Pay users to immediately send and authorize cash transfers to other iPhone users.
In January 2013 we posted a report titled “Apple Thinks outside the Box with Cash Dispensing Network.” That particular invention was designed to be a part of “Wallet”(previously Passbook). The Wallet app invention at that time was shown to offer a series of future services including a number of sub categories for credit, debit and a new one related to their newly proposed ad-hoc cash dispensing network using iTunes and Maps. Apple stated that there were times when users just needed cash and without an ATM in sight their new network would be able to bring a cash requester together with a cash provider using a new App that made the processes somewhat painless. Today, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a possible new method to allow two iPhone users with Touch ID to make a private sales transaction. This could be handy for small businesses and even those holding a neighborhood garage sale and beyond.