Apple has recently come out with a magnet wallet that sticks to your iPhone. This product was debuted with the new iPhone 13. The big selling point about this wallet is that if you lose it or if it falls off your phone it can be found via the “Find My iPhone” function. This product is similar to Tile, a small thin square tracker that can easily fit in your wallet. Customers have a few color options as well as a material option. They offer it in leather or silicone, but I must say the leather looks very sleek and clean.
Will this product be a bust or a hit? Well, according to a survey provided by MoneyTips, two out of three people have had their wallets lost or stolen. The poll had over 500 responders but it is safe to say millions can say they’ve been in this same position. As we grow into a cashless world and country, the Apple wallet is perfect because it has space for 2 cards. Therefore, no need to worry about losing cash or multiple cards. Also with the world spiraling over their own devices and iPhones, people can barely live without them. Hopefully, with the wallet magnetized to the iPhone, there will be a significant decrease in lost or stolen wallets.
In relation to Homework 5, key interview questions pertained to the idea of “identifying new trends”, “anticipating new trends”, and “how can we adapt to new trends”. Apple currently has another product on the market called MagSafe, which is an iPhone charger built into the case. It will be interesting to see if they can develop both of these products into one. Also at what point will people stop carrying around wallets stuffed with cash, coupons, and worthless debit/credit cards. These magnet wallets may be the new product to look out for in the upcoming future.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/14/apples-new-magsafe-wallet-can-be-located-with-the-find-my-app-if-it-goes-missing/
https://www.chron.com/business/moneytips/article/Survey-Nearly-2-In-3-Have-Lost-Or-Had-Stolen-13725256.phpiphone-leather-wallet-with-magsafe-golden-brown (3)
I definitely think that this new Apple wallet will be a hit. Success has been seen in the past with a majority of Apple products and the new wallet will most likely receive similar attention. Apple has always gone for a minimalist design which I think will add to the attractiveness of this product. A small, sleek, Apple brand wallet with plenty of features will appeal to a lot of people. The added feature of being able to pinpoint the wallet’s location, similarly to other Apple products, is extremely beneficial to forgetful people who sometimes lose their wallets. It is surprising to me how many wallets with similar features and styles have already been produced. Despite this, these brands will not see nearly the amount of success that I believe Apple will have due to their company name.
Source:
https://ekster.com/blogs/the-journal/how-a-trackable-wallet-can-save-you-hundreds
Personally, I am not a fan of a magnetic case from Apple. First off will the magnet work through a case, most of us don’t carry around our iPhone without a case especially since most of our iPhones are encased entirely out of glass. I dropped my phone once going out and the backside had a huge crack. After I got it fixed I invested in a good case for my phone. Second I heard that you shouldn’t put magnets near electronics because it damages their storage. Apple may have done some testing with this but they have most likely not figured out the long-term effects. Making a wallet connected to the internet of things also adds a security flaw. If someone is able to make a hacking device out of a USB who’s to say someone can’t do the same with a trackable wallet. The wallet is designed to get lost so when it gets lost someone can easily tap into your wallet and get your credit card info from the RFID chip in it. I would rather my wallet be kept offline.
https://www.peterstavrou.com/blog/tech/make-hacking-usb-like-mr-robot/
I think that Apple is really on to something here with this magsafe wallet. As someone who has a silicon holder that sticks to the back of my phone, I am constantly worried about losing my license and my debit card if I lose my phone. This product is great for college students who rarely carry around wallets and most of whom have grown accustomed to carrying around everything on the back of their phone.
While I do think that this product is a good idea and I like how it can be tracked, I think there is one major issue with it that may dissuade people from buying it. According to a 9 to 5 Mac article I found online, the wallet doesn’t offer the features that a product such as the air tag does when you lose it. This means that you wouldn’t be able to track the precise location of the wallet if you lost it because it only shows the general location of where the wallet is.
I feel that if Apple were to add the feature of precise location tracking, every college student would buy it. We as college students are forgetful and are always on the move so if there was a piece of technology out there that could track the precise location of our wallet if we lost it, we would buy it like crazy. For now, though, I agree with you that Apple is on the right track with this product and I cannot wait to see what the next version of it brings.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/01/review-apples-updated-magsafe-wallet-is-visually-identical-but-hides-wonderful-new-features/
I agree that losing your wallet is a big issue that is super common amongst people. I personally have a phone wallet that sticks to the back of my phone case. I find this very convenient as it holds all my cards and wherever my phone is, my credit cards are there with it.
I think that Apples magnetic wallet is an interesting idea. It would eliminate the risk of people losing their wallets, but it seems like it would be getting rid of the idea behind Apple Wallet, which allows you to keep you credit cards on your phone. In one article I read it mentions that because of the pandemic, less credit cards were used. This was to prevent the transfer of germs through touching people’s possessions. This article also predicts that over half of the smartphone users will shift to using a form of virtual card by 2025.
The article does mention that licenses and IDs would be difficult to transfer to virtual, so that would make sense with the magnet wallet. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store!
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/wallets-are-over-your-phone-is-your-everything-now-11630846800