A site focused on Near Field Communications has reported that Apple has built new iPhone prototypes with hardware support for sensing RFID chips.

RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) is a technology that allows a device to sense embedded chips in nearby objects without making direct contact or without using visible light like a barcode reader. Apple has already filed patents related to a mobile “ID App” capable of using an RFID sensor, a way to use RFID to sense and connect to available WiFi networks, and a touchscreen RFID tag reader.

New RFID support in future iPhones could enable a variety of “touchless” technologies, ranging from swipe payments (where users could pay for items at a checkout, vending machine, or toll booth by swiping their phone near a payment pad), to swipe sensing of information kiosks, objects, or even animals.

Very little data needs to be transmitted between the RFID chip and the device to do useful things; a payment would only need to present the user’s account number. A kiosk could simply transmit a URL to allow users to swipe their phone to open up a web page about the local area, with transit information and maps or details on items in a museum display.

The cost of RFID chips is now down to just a few cents each in quantity, making it possible to apply them to a wide variety of uses. Shipping companies and retailers already use RFIDs to track packages much like barcodes; libraries use them to track books, farmers use them to identify animals in herds, and the army, theme parks and schools attach RFIDs to people.

RDIF in mobile applications

In Japan, QR Code barcodes have long been a popular way to obtain information about an object using a cellphone with a barcode reader or camera that can read them. Mobile phones and credit cards with RFID swipe features (like Sony’s FeliCA) have also been in use for years in Asia and Europe, and are just recently entering the US.

Apple could leverage its micropayment system in iTunes, which already has a hundred million users’ accounts with credit cards in 23 countries, to set up a payment system tied into the iPhone and iPod touch. However, simply offering a way to read RFID tags would open up the device to a variety of industrial applications where swipe sensing could be used to track inventory and discover items in the area.

Adding support for an RFID reader is apparently easy and cost effective, and can be built right into the screen according to a recent Apple patent, which stated:

“The efficient incorporation of RFID circuitry within touch sensor panel circuitry is disclosed. The RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel, such that the touch sensor panel can now additionally function as an RFID transponder. No separate space-consuming RFID antenna is necessary. Loops (single or multiple) forming the loop antenna of the RFID circuit (for either reader or tag applications) can be formed from metal on the same layer as metal traces formed in the borders of a substrate. Forming loops from metal on the same layer as the metal traces are advantageous in that the loops can be formed during the same processing step as the metal traces, without requiring a separate metal layer.”

iPhone 3.0 already supports local discovery and networking setup via Bluetooth on all iPhone models, but Bluetooth devices are too expensive to embed in lots of devices that could use cheap RFID chips.

The death of television and the advent of online-only programming has been upon us every week going back at least as far as the first Hulu stream, and perhaps much further depending on which rumor-monger blogs you subscribe to. But a rumor hit the Web today that, if true, has the potential to tip the scales toward a Web-delivered TV future faster than many might imagine: According to the AllThingsD, Apple is pitching a $30 subscription package to networks that would deliver TV over the Web to customers via iTunes, and it wants to get it up and running by early next year.

In Apple’s vision, networks would climb aboard the iTunes delivery system, offering their programming via Apple’s multimedia service, which Apple would deliver to iTunes users for $30 per month. Certainly some kind of revenue sharing deal would be involved, and networks could still monetize via advertising within their shows. Further appealing to customers and networks alike, Apple isn’t tying the service to a piece of hardware like its unimpressive Apple TV box, which would require customers to make an additional investment. Rather, by streaming the service through iTunes, Apple offers the networks a built-in base of 100 million accounts that already use the software, while turning any computer or handheld device sporting iTunes into a potential means of consumption.

The real question for Apple is this: will any of the networks actually get on board? Peter Kafka over at AllThingsD thinks if anyone jumps first, it will be Disney, since CEO Bob Iger has been open to jumping in bed with Apple in the past. That first big client will likely be the hardest one, so if Disney pulls the trigger, other media giants might be forced to follow suit.

But there are other complications. Cable companies have everything to lose by allowing such an arrangement, and will likely fight tooth and nail to remain the dominant medium for programming delivery. Cable networks have profitable relationships with those cable providers that they will be loath to jeopardize, and networks themselves will be troubled by the idea that offering programming via iTunes on a subscription basis–even if the shows don’t hit the service until after they’ve aired on traditional television–will cannibalize their own ratings, driving down ad rates.

But unlike failed attempts to bring television to consumers via the Web, Apple is no startup, and its ability to deliver customers may win out. The movement is already underway, with other large companies paving the way for Apple: Netflix bundles a streaming movie service with its mail subscription DVD service, Blockbuster, Amazon and iTunes already rent movies over the Web and Google is stepping into the fray by offering films through YouTube. Then there’s television’s own success story in Hulu, a joint-venture between three leading networks (NBC, ABC and Fox) to stream their content, with limited but mandatory advertising, over the Web.

Then there’s the delivery side of things; Apple has a lock on what are arguably two of the best mobile media delivery devices in the iPhone and iPod Touch, and should the much-ballyhooed Tablet come roaring onto the scene next year as rumored, Apple might have the best portable device for watching video media tied directly to iTunes. If the networks are willing to give Apple a chance, it might just be able to meet the converging demands of increased portability and on-demand choice right in the middle. Apple completely shook up the music business when it introduced iTunes; the potential is there for it to do the same to television.

Apple’s VP Industrial Design about the change of design and the new challenges they are faced with. First time to watch and hear details about the development of Apple’s product design. Cutout of ‘Objectified’