At a private event in San Francisco, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey talks with CNN about Apple Pay and cryptocurrency.
contactless payments
Apple Pay Austria Possibly Launching Tomorrow
Rumor has it that Apple Pay Austria is supposed to launch tomorrow, although we’re not sure which banks will support it at launch.
JCPenney Explains Apple Pay Removal
This morning we heard that JCPenney quietly removed support for Apple Pay from its stores. Now we have a better idea why.
The retailer now claims the move was necessitated by the April 13, 2019 deadline in the U.S. for supporting EMV contactless chip functionality. As of this date, all terminals at U.S. merchants locations that accept contactless payments must actively support EMV contactless chip functionality, and the legacy MSD (magnetic stripe data) contactless technology must be retired. JCPenney was not ready to comply, it seems, so it switched off all contactless payment options as a result. However, it hasn’t ruled out re-enabling them later on, it seems.
Going Cashless is in Our Near Future
Jefferson Graham writes how going cashless is the future, with contactless payment apps like Apple Pay ushering this reality in.
“It seems that people are moving away from cash and technology is making it easier than ever to tap and go.” Advantage: faster checkout lines, and the elimination of fees for armored car cash pickups and fear from employees about getting robbed.
For the most part I’m already mostly cashless. The only thing I need cash for is laundry. For everything else I use a debit or credit card.
Podcasts
Why Did Walgreens Add Alipay? Chinese Tourists
The decision sounds a bit confusing at first, but makes sense once you learn about the number of Chinese tourists in the U.S.
Apple Pay Support Comes to Over 20 Banks Worldwide
Aside from French banks adding support, Apple updated its list to reflect the addition of over 20 more banks.
The U.S. bank list is now so long that Apple has introduced alphabetical sub-sections to make it easier to find your bank on the list. Other new entries added to the most recently updated list include Qpay in Australia; HSBC in France; Surgutneftegasbank in Russia; Banco Mediolanum in Spain; Concord bank and UkrSibbank in Ukraine; and N26 in the UK.
Should Apple Have its own Debit Card?
John Detrixhe argues that Apple should release its own debit card to prepare for the wave of contactless cards.
But consumers typically avoid moving their financial accounts and tend to be faithful, even when they dislike the service. An Apple debit card is a chance for the Silicon Valley-based company to give customers what they want—for God’s sake—before someone else does.
I’m not sure I’m sold on this idea. For a debit card maybe Apple could work with the bank it uses for device financing. I think what would be nice though is for Apple Pay Cash to work more like its own bank.
Use Apple Pay to Buy Nacho Fries at Taco Bell
Now that Taco Bell is bringing back nacho fries, you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for them.
Apple Pay Czech Could Come in February or March
The first group of banks to support it include Česká spořitelna, mBank, Komerční banka, Moneta and AirBank.
Podcasts
Belgium Apple Pay Coming in the Next Few Weeks
A Redditor claiming to work at an Apple Store in Brussels says that Belgium Apple Pay should launch in the next few weeks.