The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have bigger screens, badder cameras and you can use them in place of your wallet.
Apple just took the wraps off Apple Pay, its much-rumored mobile payments service. CEO Tim Cook is so excited about it that he looped the demo over and over during the keynote. It’s being touted as an “easy, secure and private” way to get your caffe latte on the run.
One thing’s for sure: this is a massive shift in the payments industry.
Apple’s new phones use NFC to wirelessly pay using the credit or debit card on file from your iTunes account.
Apple managed to line up all the major banks and credit card companies and retailers including Bloomingdale’s, Disney Store and Walt Disney World Resort, Duane Reade, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Sephora, Staples, Subway, Walgreens and Whole Foods Market.
You’ll also be able to whip out your phone to pay at an additional 220,000 merchants across the U.S. Apps like Uber and OpenTable will work also directly with Apple Pay. And it will integrate with the Apple Watch, too, so soon you’ll be able to leave the house with just your keys and watch.
Perhaps mindful of skeptics after the recent iCloud security debacle, Apple was careful to stress how secure and safe the system is.
“Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When you’re using Apple Pay in a store, restaurant or other merchant, cashiers will no longer see your name, credit card number or security code, helping to reduce the potential for fraud,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Apple doesn’t collect your purchase history, so we don’t know what you bought, where you bought it or how much you paid for it. And if your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can use Find My iPhone to quickly suspend payments from that device.”
Touch ID is used to authenticate and there’s a new “Secure Element” in the iPhone to store your financial data. Financial credentials are randomized for each transaction, so identity theft is basically impossible, Apple says.
Apple Pay APIs will be available to developers in iOS 8, so they’ll be able to sell you plushy Flappy Bird dolls through their apps on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Starting in October, with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Pay will be available in the U.S. as a free update to iOS 8.
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
7 responses to “Apple Pay just killed your wallet”
And then there will just be another thing for hackers to get into? “Data breach of Apple Pay”….hmmm not so sure about that just yet. But I can say that if they sync it with the Apple iCe Cream then i’d be all over it. http://bit.ly/1pxRJzJ
I guess Coin will never see the light of day now that Apple announced apple pay.
Ha, was gonna say the same thing!. Time to get my money back from Coin! Especially after they’re crazy on boarding process with the morse code password thing. Ugh.
So then, if we got Apple Watch, but had iPhone 5/5S, we could then have Apple Pay capability?
No, it didn’t, because most of the world is not contained within the borders of the USA.
Kill your wallet? That would be nice but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
How do I go about paying the check at a restaurant? Give them an email address or something and it will send the payment request to the phone? I’m sure it something they can figure out but so lang as there are places you can’t use your Apple Pay you are going to need to bring at least 1 card with you just in case. Needing to carry 1 card and you basically have to carry a wallet.
The thing that confuses me about Apple Pay on the Apple Watch is there’s no TouchID sensor to authorize the payment. That was the whole reason for having TouchID to make things more secure. Does the Taptic Processor do the same thing TouchID does on the iPhone? I haven’t heard anyone question this yet. If you have to get out your iPhone to use the TouchID sensor, it kinda defeats the purpose of paying with the watch.