Apple CEO Tim Cook has spent the past few days hanging out with the biggest figures in tech and media during the Sun Valley Idaho conference, but apparently not everyone in town has heard of Tim’s preferred way to pay for coffee.
During a visit to a local coffee shop, Cook reportedly tried to use Apple Pay which allows iPhone and Apple Watch owners to make transactions wirelessly. Even though the tech debuted two years ago, Tim ran into a roadblock when he busted out his iPhone to take care of the check.
Thanks to a report full of Sun Valley tidbits by The Information, we now know Cook is one of the few people that actually tries to use Apple Pay everywhere.
“‘Do you take Apple Pay?’ Cook asked as he was buying coffee at a quaint German restaurant called Konditorei. The barista said no.”
Apple revealed at WWDC 2016 in June that it is bringing Apple Pay to macOS Sierra later this year. The tech has been touted by Apple as being able to replace your wallet, but I’m betting Tim still keeps his cards nearby.
Other than getting rejected by baristas, Tim Cook and sidekick Eddy Cue were reportedly involved in lots of rumors at the conference claiming Apple was working on a mega-deal. The two were spotted talking with Disney CEO and Apple board member, Bob Iger, as well as other tech icons at the event.
Via: Business Insider
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
36 responses to “Barista shuts down Tim Cook’s request to use Apple Pay”
Wow, what a story
Title should be “man asks question and the answer was no”
Not far off from Buster’s “work”
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I think Tim Cook works around too many “YES” men and now he’s getting a dose of reality. I look to see if there’s an Apple Pay sign, because there usually is where they accept Apple Pay. Did he see one of those signs before he asked? I’m sure he’s going to get all over the head of Apple Pay with a list of restaurants he wants them to hit up to have them sign up for Apple Pay. :-)
I go to grocery stores and not all of them accept Apple Pay. I go to Safeway every now and again and they don’t accept it, yet Whole Foods does. Get on it Tim!! Safeway has more locations than Whole Foods. Safeway has over 2200 locations and Whole Foods only has a little more than 400.
My favorite gas station jaunt started taking Apple Pay! I’m very very very happy!
You should go complain to Safeway since implementing Apple Pay is in their control, not Cook’s.
The entire article is explained with the quote
“‘Do you take Apple Pay?’ Cook asked as he was buying coffee at a quaint German restaurant called Konditorei. The barista said no.”
Nothing more was needed, nor was anything else added in the 150 or so other words written.
Also newsworthy, while my new debit card has a chip in it and only has a 25% chip-reading usage rate from places I shop, that’s still 25% more places than I’ve been able to use Apple Pay so far….
So are you saying that you’ve been able to use Apple pay at 20% of the places you’ve shopped at, or do you just not understand how fractions work?
C. All of the above.
I have seen a couple of places that support card with chip, but it takes forever to scan it.
I think you mean ‘that’s still an infinite percentage more..’
There seems to be a difference between US and Europe. Here, Sweden, my card will not accept to use the magnetic strip other than i gasstations (the pump), at the cashiers desk – Chip only….every other store – Chip only….
Apple Pay is not implemented yet – that’s bad.
You’re obviously lying. Or you live 100 miles away from any of the big box pharmacies. Or Starbucks.
Nope, you’re lying.
One little restaurant out of millions of little restaurants that won’t ever support Contactless Payments.
Why *is* that? I live in New Zealand and practically every single business, large or small, takes contactless payment. Apple haven’t setup Apple Pay here, but if they did we’d automatically be able to use it everywhere. I know other countries are the same. But for the US… contactless payments is just too hard?
Because New Zealand is way more advanced in this and most of the rest of the world than the US. We finally do have chip cards, however it has been not adopted by every merchant.
Well, that and also for some surreal reason, the US went with chip and sign over chip and PIN, which is what the rest of the world uses. Chip and sign is significantly less secure because while it ensures that the card is valid and does prevent copying the card – which is a HUGE improvement over magstripe, it does nothing to ensure the person proffering the card is actually the owner.
Validating by signature is a surprisingly weak method. A lot (if not most) vendors don’t check that the signature matches the one on the card – and if you’ve stolen a card, the signature is right on the back making it possible to copy the signature style. It’s the equivalent to writing your PIN on the back of you bank card.
I agree. Supposedly sometime after 2017 the US is going to chip and pin.
One “problem” with US is it’s size. My country is not more residents than London or New York. it is pretty easy to roll out big “turnovers”.
USA is enormous and all investments in this infrastructure is an equally enormous job.
No the problem is our Government. Canada made the change with no problem along with other countries.
Canada is 80% of the poulation within 100 miles of the US border.
Kind of will vary after 2017. Restaurants and Bars in my area continue with the swipes, small businesses around me still use swipes. My banks still use swipes. They never bothered putting a chip on my debit card. Though eventually I will go fully on my credit card with the high security.
Nah they’re bickering about the cost and changing their system to comply and anything else. I don’t shop much out of my realm but just about any store I have visited recently still does swipes including restaurant bars.
I wonder if he said ‘Well, I’m the head of Apple and I think you should accept Apple Pay’ in a smug voice. Lol
Plus what part did he ‘shut’ him down? I’ve asked if Apple Pay (or contactless for that matter) is accepted in some places and they don’t. Just a feature that isn’t adapted everywhere yet.
I prefer the alternate reality headline: “Billionaire CEO rebuffed at coffee shop. Buys entire place on credit card and fires everyone on the spot. Orders Eddy Cue to put on apron and serve free coffee”
You don’t need to leave USA to get Apple Pay declined, there are very few places in my city that accept it :(
Someone must be trying to meet their blog-post quota for the week ;-)
It is REALLY hard to find a place that can NOT take Apple Pay in my city! (Québec City, Québec, Canada)
I suppose the place supports Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Walmart Pay.. and other wannabe pay systems.
Uhm, no offence but why is this even a story ?
Cult of Mac, I love you and your stories, but please don’t lower yourself to the level of BGR with their sensationalist headlines.
*shrugs* Most restaurants up here won’t take Apple Pay or any kind of tap and pay – mainly because it makes getting a tip more complicated. We use tap and pay (not that silly tap and sign thing the US uses) and almost all terminals are tap and pay ready. When you pay at most restaurants, they bring you a portable terminal and do the transaction at the table. They’ll ask you for your card and put it in the machine for you, then enter the purchase info, then hand it back to let you enter your PIN. By that time it’s too late to use tap and pay.
I guess “no” is now the equivalent of shutting someone down?
Good journalism.