Olga Kharif:

Apple Inc. plans to introduce services that would let customers use its iPhone and iPad computer to make purchases, said Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group.

I’m not a big fan of this near-field communication trend. I prefer to pay for things with cash and only use my debit card for big purchases or when I haven’t been to an ATM recently. But, I can see why this would be a huge market that Apple wants to be a part of. There are a lot of geeks out there that would love to start paying for everything with their cell phone. And, Apple has the perfect opportunity to capitalize on that.