Apple VP Phil Schiller on why the iPhone 5 doesn’t have NFC built in:

It’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem, Schiller said. “Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today.”

Bull.

Number one, since when does Apple wait to fulfill a need until everyone is doing it? With that kind of attitude, the iPhone would never have been created. Apple’s main distinction is that it creates products that do things people want to do but either didn’t know it or they weren’t available.

Second, not every customer is in America. Here in Japan, having NFC would mean I could make payments at most stores and use the iPhone as a train pass. At this time, I am still on the fence as to whether or not to get the new iPhone—an incrementally taller screen, LTE, and a slightly faster processor do not give me anything I need right now, but NFC would completely change the game for me.

Which brings us to the most likely reason Apple did not include NFC and why Schiller gave a BS answer: because Apple was not able to establish an NFC payment system where Apple gets to take a cut of each payment made. Making NFC available in Japan, for instance, would have meant simply making the chip available to be configured to other companies’ setups, which would be fantastic for users, but Apple would see nothing of all that cash flowing through its product.

And I think that is something Apple cannot bear—they have demonstrated in the past that if any transaction goes on within sight of an Apple product, it must either pay Apple or be denied a place in Apple’s domain.

Apple does not want to enable other companies to make money using their product; Apple wants to wait until it can figure out a way to commandeer the profits from NFC payments. Allowing such payments to go without Apple in the loop even for a short time would be a bad precedent.

This is one of the less satisfying aspects of being an Apple user. I am sure that when Apple does NFC, if it does, it’ll be great and either the same price as competitors or better—but Apple won’t allow it to happen at all until it can insinuate itself in the profit chain, and that means people like me have to wait without an obvious and current technology while Apple cuts deals.

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Meanwhile, about the phone: As I mentioned above, nothing really knocks my socks off.

4“ screen instead of 3.5” screen? Meh. I use jailbreak apps to space the icons, have had five rows for some time already.

LTE? It’s not like I sit around waiting for downloads on my phone all the time. It works fast enough as-is. Not to mention I have no idea if Softbank will make new charges for LTE use. Now, if they kept the data fees the same but allowed tethering? That might interest me. Otherwise, meh.

The new camera? Sweet, and I would love the panorama feature. But get a new phone just for that? Meh.

Thinner, lighter? So small a change I would probably not even notice. Sexy, sure, but still, meh.

Faster CPU and graphics? Wouldn’t help much of anything I already do, wouldn’t make me do more than I already do. Meh.

Disappointing is Apple’s lockout of new iOS features on older phones—again a maddening move by Apple to push users to buy new products. Siri will still be denied to iPhone 4 users, as will 3D flyovers and turn-by-turn directions in the new Maps app. While that’s frustrating and more than a little annoying, I don’t see myself using Siri much, and can live without the maps features. They would be nice to have, but I don’t like being coerced like that.

I just checked Apple’s iOS page. Turns out they are denying the iPhone 4 with the panorama feature (bastards), as well as FaceTime over 3G (wouldn’t use it anyway).

However, almost all of these will be available on the iPad 3, which I do have.

Bottom line: I will check with SoftBank about my account status. If there are no changes in fees for LTE, and if SoftBank subsidizes the whole cost over two years, making the new iPhone essentially free, then I will probably get it because there is simply no downside to getting it. I don’t see Apple releasing NFC with the iPhone 5S or whatever the next one is called, so I don’t think I’d be shutting myself out of the next phone’s features much.

The only thing that would hold me back: soon after getting the iPhone 3G, I recall SoftBank changed their charge schedule to make the data plans cheaper—but demanded an extra year’s indenture to SoftBank in order to get it. I do not know if that has carried on to this day. If it has, I would avoid the iPhone 5 as a way to unshackle myself from SoftBank, just in case I might want to switch to KDDI. If that year does not apply and I am currently free anyway, then never mind, and iPhone 5 it is.

As for Sachi, we more or less decided that she doesn’t really use the data plan much, so staying with the iPhone 4 would mean we could save about $50 a month, which would be nice, and the iPhone 4 performs well enough.

I guess I’ll have to drop by the SoftBank office today, but don’t look forward to the lines…