SCOTTSDALE, Ariz/PRNewswire/ -- Apple's iPhone 6 could become the new campus card at many colleges and universities, according to campus card industry business consultant Robert Huber.
For the past 50 years, colleges, universities, hospitals and corporate campuses have been issuing plastic cards and badges to their students and employees using a variety of card technologies. New hardware and software in devices like the iPhone 6 are paving the way for the transition to digital ? using smartphones as both a secure form of identification and payment processing.
Now Huber envisions these same organizations, accepting user-provided mobile credentials, such as smartphones, in lieu of institution issued IDs.
"Most college students today purchase their own smartphones and manage their accounts via the web," reports Huber. "Using their phones as their new campus card will invariably be seen as an added convenience and customer benefit by most students."
Huber, who developed the "All-Campus Card" concept in 1985, combined many traditional campus applications (Dining Services, Library, Vending, Laundry, Copiers, Parking, Door Access) and consolidated them, along with a FLEXible spending account, using a single ID card. This non-patented concept revolutionized how academic, healthcare and corporate campuses deliver services and facilitate door access privileges today.
"Although it took a few years for travelers to trade paper tickets to e-tickets, the TSA acceptance of smartphones as valid passenger ID has been a relatively smooth transition."
Huber predicts, "I expect to see a wave of campuses shifting from plastic cards to user-provided virtual credentials by the end of the decade,"
The new Apple iPhone 6 includes features which are similar to many campus cards:
Apple Pay processes payments via a mobile credential.
Data encryption protects the privacy of personal credit card numbers.
An internal Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip (similar to Bluetooth Smart) is a more secure payment technology than traditional magnetic stripe cards.
Apple's introduction of this new technology via the iPhone 6 is a game-changer ? one that Huber is now adding to his next "Campus Card Industry Forecast", which will be released on December 1, 2014.
About Robert Huber Associates
Robert Huber Associates (www.AllCampusCard.com) is the premier vendor-independent business consultancy since 1991 that specializes in campus cards, campus card systems, industry vendors, card technologies, system implementations and campus security assessments.
Media Contact:
Robert Huber
Robert Huber Associates
(480) 551-0520
huber@AllCampusCard.com
SOURCE Robert Huber Associates