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JCPenney joins the modern age and adopts Apple Pay
The list of stores and merchants that accept Apple Pay seems to be growing on a daily basis, and now there's one more to add to the list. JCPenney's store credit card will now work with Apple Pay, and the department store will now accept Apple Pay at all of its locations. Additionally, users of JCPenney's app will also have an Apple Pay option when shopping on their iPhone or iPad.
Your Apple Pay purchases can help preserve national parks
If you're buying anything from any Apple Store, Apple.com or the App Store in the US, you may want to consider paying with the company's mobile wallet. For every Apple Pay transaction at its official outlets, Cupertino will donate $1 to the National Park Foundation. Sure, that's a such a tiny fraction of a MacBook Pro's retail price, but if you're buying one anyway, might as well help preserve America's National Parks. The foundation will use your contribution for conservation projects and other initiatives, including programs encouraging the youth to help with its efforts.
Square's personalized prepaid card is available to everyone
Digital payment service Square has been inviting customers to sign up for its prepaid debit card since May, and is now opening up the program to everyone. On Thursday, the company announced the Square Cash Card is available to order via the Square app or website.
iOS 11 could use the iPhone’s NFC chip for more than Apple Pay
Apple may have an awkward history of avoiding and then embracing NFC in the past, but new developments at this week's Worldwide Developer's Conference indicate those days are long gone. Apple already announced new NFC functions coming to the Apple Watch with watchOS 4, but according to documents for the upcoming iOS 11 release, the iPhone's NFC chip might also be handling much more than just Apple Pay transactions and Passbook check-ins.
Apple's Venmo competitor is built into iMessage
Apple was rumored to be building its own competitor to services like Venmo and Paypal, and today at WWDC the company confirmed it's expanding the Apple Pay empire. Senior VP of Software Craig Federighi announced that Apple Pay would come to iMessage with iOS 11. You can send money to anyone in the default messages app who is also running iOS 11. As you might expect, you use your thumbprint to authenticate the transaction.
It looks like Apple is resurrecting its Venmo competitor
Apple began considering its own peer-to-peer payment system back in 2015. Since then, however, nothing seems to have come of it. Today, however, Recode reports that Apple is again in negotiations to launch its own money-transfer system to rival competing services like PayPal's wildly popular Venmo. Apple's new service, likely a feature for Apple Pay, could enable you to send money to a friend's iPhone from your own.
Merch booths are coming to a video game near you
Take a look through Etsy or the countless daily T-shirt sites and nerd-focused stores online and you'll find a common theme: merchandise featuring characters and other bits from your favorite video games. Soon, you won't have to go outside the title you're playing to grab a piece of tie-in swag, however. That's because online shopping company Shopify has designed a developer tool that hooks into games made with the incredibly popular Unity toolset, and sets up a virtual shop in-game where you can buy branded t-shirts and other tchotchkes. What's more, unlike the aforementioned storefronts, it'll be officially licensed merch.
You can now use Apple Pay to donate to 22 UK charities
Apple has partnered with 22 UK charities to let iOS users pledge donations using Apple Pay. The feature, which rolled out in the US last November, operates inside the Safari browser and lets anyone with a supported iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch securely send money to their favourite organisation using only their fingerprint.
Jaguar and Shell partner for in-car fuel payments
Luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Shell to make fueling up a touch more convenient. That's because everyone who owns a vehicle equipped with the company's InControl Apps will be able to pay for gas without ever leaving the driver's seat. All you need is the Shell mobile app, either a PayPal or Apple Pay account and at least $40,000 for one of the supported cars and you too can take advantage of the new feature.
The iPhone's legacy, 10 years later
January 9th, 2017 is a milestone day in the technology world: It's the 10th anniversary of Apple's iPhone. Yes, it's been a full decade since Steve Jobs took to the stage and introduced the device that many credit with defining the modern smartphone. But was it an overnight revolution? Well, no. Despite all the initial hype, the iPhone actually represents a gradual reinvention strung across many years. It wasn't the first out of the gate with many basic concepts, but its fresh approaches to those concepts helped smartphones escape their niche business-tool status and become the must-have companion devices they are now.
Square Cash plugs its virtual card into Apple Pay
The Square Cash service added a "virtual debit card" feature back in September, and tonight during the Code Commerce event, CEO Jack Dorsey announced that it's integrating with Apple Pay. The virtual Visa debit card lets Square Cash users spend their balance anywhere Visa is accepted (legitimately), and starting today, its iPhone app can enable the card for use on Apple Pay too. If you're not using an iPhone or Apple Watch, Dorsey said that the company does have plans to support other platforms like Android Pay and Samsung Pay.
Apple Pay now lets you donate to nonprofits
Apple Pay has had a great couple months. While global expansion explained its 500 percent year-over-year sales increase, the service is also growing online, as it added Squarespace support back in September. It's not stopping with commercial business, either: Today, the company announced that you can now use Apple Pay to instantly donate to nonprofit organizations.
Sainsbury's finally caves to contactless
No, you haven't gone back in time. We're almost at the end of 2016, and Sainsbury's is just now confirming it'll soon begin accepting contactless payments in stores -- finally coming good on an old promise (sort of). Most Sainsbury's Local spots will have the facility before Christmas, with more locations catching up early next year. It's been a long time coming, but Sainsbury's isn't the only slowcoach. Contactless support in Asda and Tesco stores is far from ubiquitous.
New York's busiest railways now accept Apple Pay
New York has been in the process of rolling out a mobile solution for the Metropolitan Transit Agency's super-busy Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad lines over the summer, and this week the app was updated with support for both Apple Pay and Mastercard's Masterpass payment systems. With that addition, the app appears to be feature complete: you can use it to basically any flavor of ticket for those MTA lines, including one-way, round trip and monthly passes.
Apple Pay bolstered by Co-op Bank and Metro Bank in the UK
Since it launched in July 2015, UK banks have steadily begun adopting Apple Pay. All of the big name institutions are on board -- including Barclays, Santander, HSBC and Natwest -- but there have been some notable exceptions. Today, The Co-operative Bank and Metro Bank confirmed they're jumping aboard the NFC payment bandwagon, becoming the twenty-first and twenty-second UK banks to enable the technology.
Apple Pay now works with Squarespace sites
If you have a Squarespace site that you're using to sell your wares, your online store can now accept Apple Pay via the iPhone and the upcoming macOS Sierra. Now visitors can buy stuff without digging out their credit card.
MasterCard is lending its mobile payment tech to banks
MasterCard is hoping to make in-store mobile payments -- the ability to wave your phone at a terminal to buy something -- more accessible. The company is teaming up with several banks, including Citi and Bank of America, to let customers pay for stuff using bank apps on their phones. Meaning, you won't have to download a dedicated app.
Apple Pay users can withdraw money from select BoA ATMs
If you're an Apple Pay user with access to the cardless ATMs Bank of America installed earlier this year, you might be able to withdraw cash from the machines using your phone. Reports that BoA's machines will support Cupertino's mobile wallet began circulating back in January. Now a Redditor who goes by the moniker "WhatWhatTech" successfully used Apple Pay to withdraw cash from his account through a machine in Redondo Beach, California. These cardless ATMs have an NFC logo right beside the card slot -- simply tap your phone on that logo, and you'll be prompted to key in your PIN before the screen displays all the available transaction options.
Apple Pay is coming to the mobile web
Apple announced at its WWDC keynote today that it will be expanding its popular Apple Pay system to mobile web browsers. That is, you'll be able to pay for stuff through the Safari browser running on a fingerprint-enabled iPhone or the Apple Watch.
Walmart Pay launches across Texas and Arkansas today
Walmart's mobile payment service is beginning a massive rollout today, with Walmart Pay launching at around 600 stores across Texas and Arkansas.
