The launch this week of Apple Pay is giving many people their first taste of NFC payment technology, which allows them to buy things in a store by bringing an iPhone 6 close to a compatible terminal.

But the NFC standard also allows payments to be made directly between smartphones. Apple and its competitors, such as Google Wallet, don’t offer support for that part of the standard, but the technology already exists inside many of today’s NFC-equipped phones and could one day allow retailers to accept NFC payment using smartphones. It would also be technically possible for individuals to exchange money with their friends through the same system.

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