Apple has long been rumored to be working on its own payment service to turn your iPhone into a wallet, and 9to5Mac’s latest report backs up these rumors. According to its sources, Apple has been in talks about a mobile payments service with “high-profile retail brands” that sell “luxury clothing and premium goods.” More →
Nothing has been made official at this point, but it’s pretty clear that Apple is working on a mobile payment product. Chief executive Tim Cook touts the hundreds of millions of credit cards Apple has on file in iTunes accounts every chance he gets, and the obvious inference is that the people linked to these accounts will be potential Apple payment system users beginning on day one.
Touch ID on the iPhone 5s is another piece of the puzzle, as it will likely provide secure authentication for iPhone payments. Well, somewhat secure, at least.
We have discussed Apple’s seemingly imminent mobile payments product here on BGR a number of times, but one thing we have never done is imagine what the product might look like. That’s exactly what app developer and graphic designer Ricardo Del Toro did earlier this week. More →
It really looks like Apple is getting into the mobile payments game. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was working on a mobile payments system and earlier this month, Apple was awarded a patent that detailed a method for sending secure payments over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, or NFC. Also late last year, Apple began deploying iBeacons in its own retail stores, a move that many saw as a stepping stone to mobile payments in its own stores. More →
Companies are trying as hard as they can to convince us that smartphone-based payment systems are the future, but we have seen little thus far to convince us that this new technology will break out anytime soon. Tap-to-pay smartphone solutions require retailers to update their point of sale (POS) terminals, and mobile payment solutions providers are having trouble coming up with a solid system that works across platforms. On top of everything else, people haven’t yet shown that they’re comfortable replacing standard credit cards with a smartphone-based solution. But what if there were a middle ground? What if an innovative solution came along that required no new POS equipment and could instantly be used anywhere credit cards are accepted? What if that solution looked as familiar as a credit card but still let users empty their wallets of all current credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and membership cards? One San Francisco-based startup is now looking to make this seemingly impossible middle ground a reality. More →
Apple (AAPL) shares have fallen more than 35% since hitting a record high last September. The tech press has declared that Apple is doomed. On the defensive. Unable to compete with Samsung (005930). Never mind that the company only pulled in $13 billion in profit last quarter, and only has $140 billion in cash, and that Apple has the best-selling smartphone in the world. There is one thing that Wall Street analysts have forgotten in their reports, models, and projections — Apple has 500 million iTunes accounts with credit cards. More →
Launched in May 2011, Google Wallet was supposed to revolutionize shopping and replace cash and credit cards with NFC-enabled smartphones. While the idea was and still is ambitious, Google (GOOG) Wallet has been hampered by the reluctance of retailers and small businesses to upgrade their point-of-sale systems to support NFC. Last week, Android Police published what were alleged screenshots of Google’s plans for a “Google Wallet card” (GWC). Unlike the Google Wallet app for Android smartphones, the GWC doesn’t have any kind of NFC tech in it. It reportedly works just like the Google Wallet app and stores all of your credit cards in it, only you swipe it at checkout. More →
A number of industry watchers have voiced concerns that touchless mobile payment solutions will not truly find widespread adoption until Apple (AAPL) joins the fray and adds the functionality to its popular iPhone line of smartphones. While Apple has yet to give any indication that its smartphones will support NFC-based mobile payments in the future, one firm is confident that the market will soon take off like a rocket.
Following the likes of PayPal and Square, Groupon (GRPN) has revealed that it’s releasing its own credit card payment service called Groupon Payments. Groupon Payments will be available for the iPhone and iPod touch, and participating merchants can get free plastic dongle for swiping credit cards or pony up for a $100 smartphone case/credit card slider. According to Groupon’s website, the company will only take 1.8% of transactions processed on Discover, MasterCard and Visa cards. American Express cards will be charged a 3% transaction fee and all cards will be subject to a 15-cent charge per swipe. Groupon says its service will offer the “lowest rates available.” So are they? By comparison, PayPal’s “PayPal Here” charges 2.7% fee per transaction and Square charges 2.75% per swipe or a flat fee of $275 per year. Does the world need another mobile payment system? Groupon thinks so. More →
PayPal on Wednesday made its big move to upend Google (GOOG) Wallet in the mobile payment platform wars by signing a deal to enable its mobile payment system on Discover’s credit card network. As reported by GigaOM, the new partnership will deliver PayPal’s in-store payment service to more than 7 million different stores across the United States starting next April. GigaOM says that when the service launches next year, PayPal customers will be able to use a PayPal Access Card to buy in-store goods in conjunction with PayPal’s mobile wallet app, which delivers deals and handles receipts, among other things. More →
A number of big-name retailers including Walmart (WMT), Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT), have joined forces to create a company that will give customers another way to make payments with their smartphones, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. The company, called Merchant Customer Exchange, is in the process of developing a mobile application that will offer customers a variety of coupons, rebates and access to loyalty programs, across nearly all smartphone platforms. More →
PayPal earlier this year announced a partnership with The Home Depot that allowed customers to make point-of-sale transactions with their smartphones in more than 2,000 locations. The e-commerce company on Thursday announced that 15 new national retailers have signed on for PayPal’s in-store mobile payment service. These include, Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Guitar Center, Jamba Juice, JC Penney, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Nine West, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Tiger Direct and Toys“R”Us. “We can’t wait to launch with these great retailers, and help them serve their customers better through PayPal,” PayPal president David Marcus said. “Consumers are relying on technology now more than ever to simplify their lives when it comes to shopping and paying, and retailers must adapt to this shift or risk becoming irrelevant.” PayPal plans to sign up as many as 20 national retailers this year. More →
Barclays on Thursday announced the launch of the Barclaycard PayTag, a sticker that can be placed on any handset to equip it with instant NFC compatibility. The PayTag is an extension of a customer’s credit card account that can be used to make payments of £15 and under, though the limit will rise to £20 in June, and it is available at no cost to Barclaycard owners. “Today, we are offering the choice of mobile payments to millions of our customers at no additional cost to them,” David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe, said. “More than half of us say that the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone, so we’re giving people the option of using them to make easy, convenient, everyday payments without the need to upgrade their current handset.” The PayTag will be released to a select group of customers in the coming weeks, with mass availability coming later this year. Barclays’ commercial and press release follows below. More →
