> What if; it's actually much harder than we realise to make it easy to use and secure?
No, it's really just Apple being paranoid/greedy about their platform. Android has had HCE for over a decade now.
That said, in my view Apple has every right to, on top of HCE, offer access to their secure element at restrictive terms: Even though Java Card has a "firewall" between installed applications, these things aren't really battle-tested to run completely untrusted and potentially hostile applications side by side with e.g. payment card applications.
But HCE and SE implementations can coexist! Android has, again, been doing it for over a decade!
And Apple even has implemented both HCE and SE – but HCE is EU only (if you're quiet, you can still hear Apple stomping their feet in the distance), whereas SE is "some non-EU countries" only, and requires paying (at least according to TFA) exorbitant fees.
No, it's really just Apple being paranoid/greedy about their platform. Android has had HCE for over a decade now.
That said, in my view Apple has every right to, on top of HCE, offer access to their secure element at restrictive terms: Even though Java Card has a "firewall" between installed applications, these things aren't really battle-tested to run completely untrusted and potentially hostile applications side by side with e.g. payment card applications.
But HCE and SE implementations can coexist! Android has, again, been doing it for over a decade!
And Apple even has implemented both HCE and SE – but HCE is EU only (if you're quiet, you can still hear Apple stomping their feet in the distance), whereas SE is "some non-EU countries" only, and requires paying (at least according to TFA) exorbitant fees.