APPLE SOARS IN MOBILE COMMERCE

And once again ahead of everyone, on its next loop, Apple keeps your wallet lighter, and your trip with you. If you are a Californian resident, you likely have become aware of Apple’s recent announcement about the availability of digital driver’s licenses and state IDs in the Apple Wallet. The promises this new feature holds are exciting and, if successful, could completely change the way we think about personal identification within the context of travel in the digital age, or any other time.

APPLE SHAKES UP DIGITAL IDENTIFICATION WITH APPLE WALLET INTEGRATION

But you haven’t quite lived until you can breeze through airport security without first fumbling through your bag to find your driver’s licence. Some Californians will no longer have to suffer through this indignity in the fall. Apple will have rolled out the ability to integrate digital state IDs and driver’s licences into the Apple Wallet. We know this because Apple announced this pilot project on 13 June just after its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California. Apple is about to reinvent the driver’s licence for a contactless world. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Looking back, Apple has a history of reinventing the most trivial things. Examining Apple’s latest reinventions reveals that, in the 21st century, Apple has prioritised two types of innovation: making it easier to access content, and making payments easier.

THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL: SIMPLIFIED TSA SCREENINGS

With its new digital identification application, it would seem that Apple is finally keeping up with the digital age, but that is far from the truth. Just as important, if not more so, to Apple’s bottom line is that travellers at Los Angeles International and San Francisco International airports will be among the first to be able to breeze through TSA screenings without having to remove their physical IDs or their phones – at least, those travellers who are among the limited 1.5 million persons enrolled in the pilot programme.

HOW TO GET ONBOARD WITH APPLE’S DIGITAL ID INITIATIVE

Users in this pilot simply need to go through a simple enrolment flow, where they scan their driver’s licence or state ID and have their face scanned to add the IDs to Apple Wallet, with the highest level of security and privacy. Apple is committed to privacy in protecting personal identity, photos and other aspects of communication, while continuously innovating in technology.

SECURITY AND PRIVACY: AT THE HEART OF APPLE’S DIGITAL ID

Plus, because Apple is building it, users can be confident that security and privacy will be features, not an afterthought. The digital IDs will sit in Apple Wallet. Like all features in iOS, the Wallet has been meticulously designed to protect the privacy of the user’s information and guard against unauthorised access. Secure elements have inherent protections against spoofing or hacking, and their cryptographed data can be validated by anyone with a key.

THE IMPACT OF APPLE'S DIGITAL IDS ON FUTURE IDENTIFICATION METHODS

When Apple becomes the first provider of digital IDs loaded into the Apple Wallet, issuers and governments may occur to each other: ‘That looks like us!’ It makes travel and transactions more convenient, but it’s also the future of IDs. There’s no reason why they must be confined to airlines and boarding, and no reason why citizens of some countries couldn’t have them in the not-too-distant future. But this is just the start. Apple is leading the way to a totally digital world, where the physical wallet will eventually be relegated to museums and the dusty remnants of antiquarian culture.

UNDERSTANDING APPLE: A PIONEER IN DIGITAL INNOVATION

Behind every Apple advance is always an urgency to harness the power of enhanced technology for enhanced user experience.

And so, in light of the upcoming introduction of digital driver’s licences and state IDs in Apple Wallet, Apple’s not just building the technology of today, it’s building the future of tomorrow: Apple’s future is people’s future. Apple’s understanding of what’s next isn’t just about the digital future, it’s about designing more human, seamless future experiences for all of us.