iPhone 5 NFC tech bringing "E-Wallet" to Jesus Phones?

A new batch of recently awarded Apple patents have popped up over on tracker site Patently Apple, adding more fuel to the fire that the iPhone 5 will feature near-field communications tech.

Sitting on an illustration of the iPhone homescreen is an icon we’ve never seen before called the “E-Wallet”. With NFC used primarily to make cash-and-card free contactless payments, it would make sense for the E-Wallet to have some releation to the technology.

The term E-Wallet is already a registered trademark of Ilium Software, so it’s unlikely that the name at least will make it to a final Apple product. It’s also worth mentioning that Apple reserve the right to include icons for purely illustrative purposes in thier patents.

But given the extensive research the Cupertino company have put into NFC developments over the years, and with the term now buzzing more and more loudly throughout the technosphere, NFC in the iPhone 5 is as good a bet as any other.