Apple’s VP of Apple Pay recently said that Apple was “working rapidly” to bring its mobile payment system to new markets — and according to a fresh report that rapid progress may result in Apple Pay arriving in Switzerland, its seventh market, as early as next week.
Samsung Pay is doing all it can to make things difficult for Apple Pay, and that could include bringing the fight to its own backyard. Samsung is said to be working on porting its mobile payment service to the iPhone — but there is a catch.
Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, says that Apple is “working rapidly” to expand the company’s mobile payments system way beyond the six countries it currently operates in.
“Our goal is to have Apple Pay in every significant market Apple is in,” Bailey said in a new interview.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Apple Pay in October 2014, only about 2.7 percent of retailers that accepted credit cards had the technology to compatible with the mobile wallet. In 2015, only 0.2 percent of sales were made with mobile wallets, according to survey by research firm eMarketer. However, that same research firm predicts that by the end of 2016, nearly one in five smartphone users will use mobile payments.
After several years of various mobile wallets trying to gain momentum, three factors — all are related to the switch most retailers made last October to accept chip cards (also called EMV) — are predicted to drive a big shift towards mobile wallets. Updates at retailers to accept EMV cards also often include compatibility for near field communication (NFC), the tap-to-pay technology used by many mobile wallets.
Have companies not yet worked out that trying to go against Apple rarely seems to work out? If not, they may be learning quickly — with Apple Pay rival CurrentC reportedly delaying its arrival yet again, while laying off 30 of its staff.
Hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?
Apple Pay’s availability in Canada has taken a giant step forward with two major Canadian banks starting to offer the service starting today.
Beginning Tuesday, Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will support Apple’s NFC payment technology, along with ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Financial Services — while three other banks out of Canada’s Big Five are set to hop on the bandwagon over the coming months.
U.S. department store chain Kohl’s has announced that it is the first retailer to double-down on Apple Pay by adding the ability for customers to pay with their iPhones or Apple Watches using a Kohl’s Charge store-branded credit card, while simultaneously earning Yes2You Rewards loyalty points — and all with one single tap.
Using Apple Pay to buy stuff feels like magic every time. Apple’s official ads don’t really portray how awestruck people are when I bust out my iPhone or Apple Watch to buy a Red Bull, but a bank in Australia has captured the moment perfectly.
ANZ’s funny Apple Pay ad is super and simple and just shows a regular guy buying a carton of milk from an Australian version of Seth Rogen. Not much happens, but the wave of utter amazement and disbelief that hits everyone in the store when the guy taps the counter with his iPhone is something you’ve got to see.
Check it out:
Apple Pay has made its debut in Singapore, bringing the total number of countries adopting Apple’s mobile payment service to six — also including the U.S., Canada, China, Australia, and United Kingdom.
As in Australia and Canada, the service is initially available only for American Express customers, although Apple says it looks forward to new banks and card providers joining throughout 2016.
Apple is all about music these days, which is why it makes perfect sense that the company would be keen to target the hip, young, presumably disposable-incomed revelers at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Thanks to Square, Coachella’s official point-of-sale provider, attendees will be able to use Apple Pay to buy food, drinks and other assorted merchandise, while the festival is also building iBeacon support into its official app.
Apple Pay has finally gone live for customers of Barclays, a.k.a. the last of the U.K. holdout banks which didn’t support Apple’s mobile payments service when it arrived in the United Kingdom last July.
I forgot how good it feels to hold 4 inches of magic in my hands.
Spending the past year and a half with the luxurious 5.5-inch screen of the iPhone 6 Plus and 6s nearly convinced me that bigger really is better. But after using the iPhone SE, I’m starting to rethink everything I love about iPhone.
The moment I clasped the iPhone SE it was like reconnecting with an ex-lover. Everything is familiar and yet it has somehow improved in nearly every single way. I’ve been re-captivated by its beauty, brains, and brawn all over again, even though on the outside, it looks like such a boring device.
How can an iPhone that looks so old feel so right?
Using Apple Pay to buy items has been limited to physical retail stores and apps, but Apple is reportedly planning to rollout the service soon to mobile websites, putting it in closer competition with PayPal and other platforms.
The mobile website version of Apple Pay will allegedly be ready in time for the 2016 holiday shopping season. Once launched, the mobile version will allow shoppers to complete purchases using their fingerprint rather than entering credit card info on websites.
Die-hard Android fans probably had little interest in Apple’s keynote Monday, but believe it or not, plenty will be interested in the new iPhone SE.
With high-end specifications and a 4-inch display, it’s a compact smartphone for those who want the latest features without a supersized screen — and there’s nothing like it on Android.
Buying a smaller iPhone doesn’t have to mean settling for disappointing specifications anymore. With its new iPhone SE, Apple is packing its latest features and technologies into a compact shell to provide those who prefer smaller screens with the very best it has to offer.
Apple is expected to unveil a brand new iPhone in a little over a week, only instead of going big, the first new iPhone of 2016 will be perfect for people with tiny hands and those who don’t want to spend a lot on a new smartphone.
The rumor mill has been serving up juicy bits of gossip on Apple’s upcoming handset for over a year, so as the big day approaches we have some pretty solid clues about the next iPhone’s design, hardware, price, name and much more.
Here are the probable answers to all your iPhone SE questions.
Filling up your car with gasoline is about to get a lot quicker, now that the world’s biggest oil company is finally adding Apple Pay to its pumps.
Starting today, ExxonMobil is activating Apple Pay at more than 6,000 gas stations across the U.S., allowing customers to buy gas or a car wash without having to bust out their wallets.
The coolest way to pay for stuff is finally coming to the country’s hippest store: American Apparel.
The company revealed today that it will be using software provided by Index to bring Apple Pay support to point-of-sale terminals across the country, making it easier than ever to buy simple cotton hoodies and t-shirts.
Apple Pay is likely to launch in France by the end of 2016, according to a new report — claiming that it will be a gradual rollout over the course of several months.
There’s no exact date cited, but it is quite possible that it will take place by September, before Apple ships the iPhone 7.
If, like me, you live in the U.K., you get bad weather, gray skies, and a baffling international reputation for bland cuisine and poor dental hygiene — but also free London travel for certain Apple Pay customers on selected days in January.
That’s because MasterCard is revisiting its pre-Christmas promotion, by offering more of its “Free Fare Mondays” on the London Underground to promote Apple Pay.
Not a bad trade-off if you ask me!
Apple Pay may have finally launched in China, but it seems that Apple flinched first in its negotiations with Chinese banks over their adoption of the service.
At least, that’s according to a new report — citing “people with knowledge of the matter” — which claims that Apple will only earn about half of what it does in the U.S. for every Apple Pay transaction in China.
Apple Pay made its debut in China this Thursday, but things didn’t go quite as smoothly as hoped — largely thanks to the sheer number of users trying to register with the service.
According to local reports, many users were faced with system errors after struggling to link their credit cards to their Apple Pay accounts.
After almost two years of planning, Apple is finally ready to launch Apple Pay in China, the world’s second biggest retail market.
It may have taken a bit longer than Tim Cook hoped, but Apple Pay is finally launching in China this week — with bank representatives from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Guangfa Bank and China Construction Bank revealing that the mobile payments service will be available from February 18.
These three banks will be joined by 16 other Chinese banks and financial organizations over the coming months.
iPhone users will soon be able to get their chicken fix without busting out their wallets.
Apple revealed today that Apple Pay is now accepted at more than 2 million locations across the US, and it’s continuing to grow by adding new retailers like fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, Crate & Barrel, as well as Au Bon Pain.