Back in 2012, our own Christina Bonnington bravely ditched her physical wallet and tried to pay her way through life for a month using only a NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy Nexus and an iPhone 5. In the end, her tool of choice was clear: The Nexus made buying things like gas and groceries super easy, thanks largely to Google Wallet and NFC--a short range radio technology now built into many phones that lets two devices communicate when touched together, and often used for payments. The NFC-less iPhone? Good for ordering a few meals via Seamless and GrubHub. And that's about it.
While Apple may never make a phone with NFC, iPhone 5 and 5s owners can at least pick up a case that comes with one of the chips embedded. Slap on an Incipio Cashwrap, download the Isis Mobile Wallet iOS app, and you'll be tapping, smacking, banging, and waving your iPhone in any shop nationwide that accepts mobile payments.
If you have an American Express, Chase, or Wells Fargo card, you're all set right out of the box. If you have another card, you can simply set up an American Express Serve account and top it up using an existing credit or debit card or your bank account.
There is one caveat, though. The case only works with AT&T iPhones for now -- something we hope will change soon. Isis, after all, is a joint venture between AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Also, it costs $70. At that price, a backup battery would've been nice.
