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Apple Pay expands to additional banks, including PNC, US Bank, USAA, Navy Federal Credit Union, and more
Just two weeks ago, Apple Pay launched with support from six of the nation's top banks. Earlier this week, the number of banks supporting Apple Pay expanded to include PNC, US Bank, USAA, the Navy Federal Credit Union, and Barclaycard. Additionally, regional banks are starting to join the mix, with MacRumors relaying the following: According to a MacRumors poster, Barclaycard is also working today. M&T Bank is also working, while another poster reports Regions Bank, Renasant Bank and Keesler Federal Credit Union are all working although several posters have not had luck with Regions Bank cards. Zions Bank is also up and running according to a forum poster. Looking ahead, we can expect to see a marked increase in the number of participating banks. Recall that Tim Cook, during Apple's iPad event two weeks ago, said that 500 new banks will support Apple Pay in the coming months.
Tim Cook wants to bring Apple Pay to China
Tim Cook earlier this week traveled to China where he met with Chinese authorities to discuss a gamut of privacy issues, including recent allegations that the Chinese government recently set up a man in the middle attack to stealthily capture iCloud credentials from iOS users. In an interview with China's Xinhuanet news agency, Cook said that the discussions held on privacy and security issues were "very open", "fascinating", and "impressive." Given the gravity of the hacking allegations, the adjectives Cook chose to use are, themselves, fascinatingly and impressively vague. On another note, Cook emphasized that China remains a "key market" for Apple and that the company is keen on bringing all of its latest technologies to the country, from the Apple Watch to Apple Pay. "China is a really key market for us," Cook told Xinhuanet. "Everything we do, we are going to work it here. Apple Pay is on the top of the list." Apple Pay in China, though, may be a ways off as getting the payment service up and running there will require substantial collaboration between Chinese "networks, banks, and merchants." At this point, Cook intimated that Apple hasn't even yet reached out to the important financial players in the country because they're still trying to understand the "necessary steps to bring Apple pay to China." As for the impending release of the Apple Watch, Cook was confident about its prospects for success. "We are going to wonder how we ever lived without it," Cook "That's the real test of a great product: you wonder how you live without it. And I think that's going to happen to the Apple Watch."
Eddy Cue on Apple Pay: "We have a lot of work to do, but it should be huge"
With Apple Pay launching today, Apple's Eddy Cue spoke briefly to the Wall Street Journal about some of the challenges faced by Apple's new mobile payments platform. For instance, while the 220,000 merchant locations that will accept Apple Pay at launch certainly sounds impressive, that figure is just a small drop in the bucket relative to the 9 million merchant locations sprinkled throughout the U.S. "We're trying to do something that I think is a game changer and it requires a lot of people to play together," Cue told the Journal. "There's a lot to do here and we have a lot of work to do, but it should be huge." Another potential speed bump for Apple Pay is that the platform currently doesn't support proprietary cards that big name retailers like Macy's like to issue customers. Still, corporate credit cards or prepaid cards aren't accepted yet. Neither are retailers' proprietary credit cards, so shoppers can't use their Macy's or Bloomingdale's cards. That means customers might miss out on discounts tied to the store cards, while merchants relinquish revenue they receive from issuing banks. Notably, a Macy's spokesman told the Journal that support for such cards will be coming soon. On a related note, Businessweek also has a piece up today relaying why some nationwide retailers aren't fully jumping on the Apple Pay bandwagon just yet. While some retailers are keen on loyalty programs not supported by the anonymous nature of Apple Pay, others -- like Starbucks -- aren't exactly racing to upgrade their POS machines with NFC functionality. It'll be interesting to see how Apple Pay at retail locations ultimately resonates with consumers. Interestingly enough, Cue told the WSJ that he expects Apple Pay, at least initially, to be more widely used via mobile apps than at retail storefronts.