U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone has confirmed reports that its EMV- and NFC-enabled mobile POS attachment for the the iPhone 5s is being deployed by Apple for its employees to use to accept card payments in its retail stores.

Apple will reportedly be switching to the iPhone 5s to accept the payments, using a VeriFone attachment that includes an EMV PIN pad and a contactless interface, which theoretically could also enable acceptance of credit and debit payments from NFC phones. The device also can scan both 1D and 2D bar codes.

There is no indication that Apple wanted the new POS shell for the contactless or NFC interface, and the move has no apparent bearing whatsoever on whether Apple plans to support NFC in its next iPhone. As usual, speculation about an NFC-enabled iPhone has ramped up as the launch date for the next iPhone, in this case the iPhone 6, nears.