Turns out you can buy more than groceries and iPhone accessories with Apple Pay—like a crazy expensive car, for example. British car auctioneer Coys of Kensington just sold a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 for £825,000, which is a little over US$1 million. That’s the single largest Apple Pay transaction to date.
Coys said the transaction is the largest in-app purchase ever, and that it was done via the Vero social media platform.
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According to Coys,
The car is one of the highly sought-after right hand drive silver birch models with red leather trim. It has undergone a full restoration—including engine rebuild, suspension and gearbox overhaul following 20 years in dry storage, during which time it was not used.
For those who aren’t in the know, unlike the proud owner of this Aston Martin, Apple Pay is Apple’s mobile payment platform that makes credit card transactions more secure. Your card number and personally identifying information aren’t linked to specific purchases. Instead, single use digital tokens act as the go-between for sellers and credit card accounts.
Apple Pay launched in October 2014 with the release of iOS 8.1. The iPhone 6 and newer, along with Apple Watch, support using the payment system at credit card terminals through NFC wireless communication. You authenticate purchases with your fingerprint by pressing the Touch ID-enabled Home button.
It’s a handy payment system and faster than chip-and-pin credit card readers. Apple Pay adoption is growing around the world, but isn’t yet a defacto standard.
It is, however, up to the task of handling a million dollar car sale. Unfortunately, the buyer of this DB5 wants to stay anonymous, so you’re out of luck if you were planning on calling up your long lost cousin for a joy ride.
Same.
That’s a credit line that’s a bit higher than mine.