iWallet may be to iPhone 5 what Siri was to iPhone 4S.
As the world is focused on the new iPad from Apple (AAPL) and most of the speculation centers around iTV, the next big thing for Apple may be iWallet.
Apple already has millions of credit card numbers on file. Apple may introduce the next big killer app iWallet along with iPhone 5.
On March 6, 2012, without much fanfare the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Apple Patent Number 8,127,982.
The patent is disguised under the title ‘Parental controls’ and perhaps this is the reason it has not received much attention. A careful reading shows that iWallet is more of a reality than generally thought. Here is the abstract of the patent:
Various techniques are provided for establishing financial transaction rules to control one or more subsidiary financial accounts. In one embodiment, a financial account management application stored on a processor-based device may provide an interface for defining financial transaction rules to be applied to a subsidiary account. The financial transaction rules may be based upon transaction amounts, aggregate spending amounts over a period, merchant categories, specific merchants, geographic locations, or the like. The device may update the financial transaction rules associated with a subsidiary account by communicating the rules to an appropriate financial server. Accordingly, transactions made using the subsidiary account by a subsidiary account holder may be evaluated against the defined rules, wherein an appropriate control action is carried out if a financial transaction rule is violated.
Apple expands on the patent as follows:
The financial transaction rules to…Read more at Forbes