Google Wallet was not NFC when it first launched though it uses the technology.... There is a reason no one else has started using NFC in parks because it is extremely resource intensive to roll out and requires a huge infrastructure upgrade in most cases.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication. This means you can have two electronics close together and pass information securely between them. This technology has not been around for over a decade as you state it first started showing up on devices about 5 years ago with Samsung Smart Phones which is when Google Wallet adapted to include it. That being said it has not taken off in the same way Apple Pay has. What the infrastructure in place with MM+ allows for is the switch from using Magic bands which use RFID to using smart phones for the same things. The infrastructure put in place because of MM+ though it was needed regardless allows for these changes which would not have been possible before.
You are correct here, my initial post should have read "NGE was a project in development for years that didn't take into account an
RFID payment system that has been around for over a decade".
RFID contactless payments which NFC devices take advantage of have existed for over a decade. From the merchant side an RFID reader is all that is necessary to communicate with a phone that supports NFC.
Look at "Visa payWave" or "Mastercard PayPass" for examples.
Apple pay is something which Apple developed from NFC and is essentially the same though it uses different APIs. That being said anywhere you go where it is now excepted it was not an easy roll out because it was the first widely excepted form of NFC payment.
Not exactly. Apple pay uses NFC the same way all other devices do to communicate to the terminal, the difference is that it supports the EMV tokenization standard. While apple was the first to take advantage of this standard and contributed to its development, it is not limited to Apple Pay.
Somehow McDonalds, Wallgreens, Subway and a bunch of other chains were able to accept Apple Pay on Day 1.
The fact that they just rolled out the online check in portion to MM+ shows this system is not as stagnant as you claim and is flexible.
I assume you are referring to direct to room check in and not online check in. This started testing 8 or 9 months ago and was one of the original goals of MM+ that was delayed.
I like the technology and ideas behind MM+ and think that my over all experience has improved because of it though I think the biggest part I am happiest about is the unseen parts, the infrastructure, and what that means for the future of the parks.
Many people are saying that when UNI decides to make the leap it will not be as expensive because they will do it in a smarter way. That is part of following, if you do not do something first you can learn from others, unfortunately sometimes you cannot and should not wait for others to do it. Also UNI has a tiny footprint compared to that which is WDW and the complexity of laying redundant fiber around UNI is not the same as laying it throughout WDW and should not be compared as such...
I don't disagree here. The infrastructure put in place isn't going to waste, WiFi and most of the other infrastructure was going to be required at some point. I just don't think the customer facing parts of it are much more than a gimmick.
DLR and DLP also have much smaller footprints than WDW and I don't see TWDC in a hurry to invest in these programs at those resorts. If TWDC really believes MM+ is a successful investment we should see the systems rolled out to those resorts soon.
Universal probably won't decide to do something on this scale, considering they don't own the hotels and don't have an FP+ system. WiFi and a wait time app works fine for them. They might switch to RFID tickets some day that can double as a room key, but I highly doubt they will ever try to integrate all those systems into a single domain.
