Next iPhone Has Wave-to-Pay, Video Conferencing?

Along with announcing the iPhone 3G on their website, China Unicom is touting some currently unavailable iPhone features.

According to their site the iPhone features:
- Wave-to-pay
- Mobile TV (CCTV has been heavily promoting this in China)
- Tethering
- Video Conferencing

Dan Butterfield has translated their description of Wave-to-pay...
“Near-Field-Communication (NFC) swipe card handset a.k.a. “wave-to-pay,” offers convenience for those who use public transportation. It’s possible to use a handset swipe card to buy a ticket. This wave-to-pay has replaced the former public transportation IC card. Using the swipe card handset for shopping eliminates the needs to carrying cash. Using wave-to-pay also makes it easy to pay in the ferry terminal. Through the swipe card, the handset (phone) can purchase your passage and avoid the worry of lining up to purchase tickets. Not only does this technology eliminate the need to carry a public transportation IC card, you don’t even need a bankcard. All you need is the wave-to-pay handset (phone), to buy a ticket and do your shopping. One machine in the hand, opens access, and gives you control. Wave-to-pay makes life more convenient.”


The Wave-to-pay and Video Conferencing features seem to point to a soon coming hardware update. AppleInsider recently posted information from a reliable source that the next iPhone will have video capabilities.

TMCnews has confirmed that China Unicom will start selling the iPhone 3G on May 17th though that seems early for a hardware update.

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