Tim Cook razzed over Apple Wallet announcement; Netizens mock firm's delayed innovation

Amounting to a rare sight, Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook was trolled on micro-blogging site Twitter over the American multinational technology company's latest update to the feature 'Wallet. Tim Cook announced that Apple's Wallet application will now offer to store the user's driver's license and state ID, following which a Twitter handle asked, "Can you believe this?"

The troll started after a Twitter handle named Vikrant stated that while the United States is introducing the updated version of Wallet application now, Indians have been using 'Digilocker for more than 6 years'. Also, the latest feature of Apple's Wallet is made available only to select residents of Arizona, while India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology introduced the online service pan-India. 

India introduces digitisation of documents before US' Apple upgrades apps

Taking to Twitter, Tim Cook shared, "Today we introduced driver’s license and state ID in Wallet for the first time. Now available for Arizona residents, we’re looking forward to bringing this easy, private, and secure feature to more states soon."

Subsequently. the Twitter handle named Vikrant stated, "Can you believe this?- The US is introducing this service for select residents, While Indians are using Digilocker for more than 6 years."

Tim Cook further shared, “We’re thrilled to bring the first driver’s license and state ID in Wallet to Arizona today, and provide Arizonans with an easy, secure, and private way to present their ID when travelling, through just a tap of their iPhone or Apple Watch,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. 

Additional states will offer driver’s licenses and state ID in Wallet soon. Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio, and the territory of Puerto Rico plan to bring this feature to their residents, along with the seven states Apple previously announced," the statement added. 

India's DigiLocker way ahead of time 

It is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT under Digital India Corporation to provide access to authentic digital documents to a citizen-- anywhere and anytime, through its digital document wallet. The issued documents in the DigiLocker system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents as per Rule 9A of the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries Providing Digital Locker Facilities) Rules, 2016 notified on February 8, 2017, vide G.S.R. 711(E).

The initiative is available on both website and mobile app formats. and the digital locker becomes one store for all documents of vital importance. The locker is linked to both Aadhaar Card and the SIM card number. The data is safely stored in cloud storage thus easing people's lives and away from the onus of carrying hard copies at crucial times.