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For some, Apple Pay is an accessibility tool
Apple has long been a champion of making technology more accessible to the differently abled. From iOS support of Bluetooth braile displays to full screen magnification on both iOS and OS X, there are no shortage of examples which demonstrate Apple's ongoing commitment towards ensuring that its products can be used and enjoyed by all people. Interestingly, Apple Pay itself may be yet another example. Two weeks ago, Steven Aquino, who has mild cerebral palsey, described how Apple Pay makes it easier for him to pay for items at check out. More than security and convenience, Apple Pay has another huge advantage: accessibility. I've used Apple Pay twice now since iOS 8.1 shipped last week, and it's been every bit as easy - and dare I say, magical - as Tim Cook hyped it to be at the September press event. But more than that, Apple Pay has the potential to be such an asset to the disabled. In my case, as someone with low vision and (mild) cerebral palsy, no longer do I have to fumble around my wallet trying to find my credit card or struggle with swiping my card into the terminal. All I do is pull my phone out of my pocket, rest my thumb on the home button, and I'm done. No eye strain, no dexterity issues, nothing. Just tag and go. Building on that, Aquino yesterday penned a more detailed post on iMore where he talks at greater length about the accessibility perks of using Apple Pay over the more ancient technique of physically swiping a card through a reader. More broadly, Aquino astutely brings up that Apple's penchant for "inclusive design" helps empower users with disabilities, even if it wasn't necessarily the end goal in the first place.
Alibaba deal could bring Apple Pay to China
Apple's mobile payment service could get a huge boost if the company can work out a deal with Alibaba, China's do-it-all megacorp. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Alibaba's Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai noted his company's desire to partner with Apple. "Right now, I think what we can say is that this is focused on the China market for Apple. We are positive about the potential cooperation, but it depends on the details being worked out," Tsai said. A deal between Alibaba and Apple would make a lot of sense given Apple's recent push to deliver new devices to the nation promptly on launch, as well as Alibaba's expertise in the Chinese e-commerce scene with its Alipay app. It would also make a lot of sense because, you know, money is good and Apple would stand to make a lot (more) of it.
Apple Pay has accounted for 0.91% of all Whole Foods transactions since launch
Since going live in late October, Whole Foods has already processed over 150,000 Apple Pay transactions, this according to CIO Jason Buechel as relayed to the Wall Street Journal last week. With that number in tow, Mike Dudas, formerly of Google, PayPal, and Braintree, did a bit of math and deduced that Apple Pay transactions at Whole Foods now represent nearly 1% of all purchases. Updated estimate: Apple Pay represented ~1% of @WholeFoods transactions in the 17 days since Apple Pay launched. pic.twitter.com/zlqHzki71B - Mike Dudas (@mdudas) November 7, 2014 Not too shabby given that Apple Pay only works on the iPhone 6 and that Apple Pay has only been operational for about 3 weeks now.
Why Walmart may never accept Apple Pay
When CVS disabled support for Apple Pay a few weeks ago, the result was a PR nightmare for MCX and its in-the-works mobile payment app CurrentC. As a result, MCX executives have effectively been forced to speak up and shed some light on the rules that govern MCX partners. For instance, during an interview with Re/Code last week, MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson explained that the exclusivity period which prevents MCX partners from supporting competing mobile payment platforms expires in "months, not years." We've also since learned that retailers on board the CurrentC bandwagon are not subject to fines should they decide to stop working with MCX. Of course, the optimists amongst us read this as a hopeful hint that CurrentC partners such as CVS and Best Buy might eventually offer support for Apple Pay in the not too distant future. But one retailer that may never support Apple Pay, or at the very least may be the last holdout, is Walmart. For Walmart, it's not about security and it's not about giving CurrentC a chance to breathe. On the contrary, Walmart, despite its ridiculous assertion that it has the best interests of consumers in mind, is laser focused and damn-near obsessed with minimizing costs at every angle. So naturally, Walmart is not a fan in the slightest of the fees it has to fork over on each and every credit card transaction. To that end, Walmart arguably views Apple Pay with disdain, and perhaps dangerous to the extent that Apple's new mobile payment platform might encourage even more consumers to pay with credit cards. Underscoring Walmart's, shall we say, deep frustration with credit cards, Re/Code yesterday published the following video depicting Walmart treasurer Mike Cook aggressively asking Visa's Jim McCarthy a question about Apple Pay and card-present rates. The video is from last week's Money2020 conference. in Las Vegas. Your browser does not support iframes. Re/Code adds: This exchange is noteworthy because it epitomizes the mistrust and disdain between Walmart and the credit card networks. Walmart is convinced that the fees merchants have to pay banks when a credit card is used in their stores is too high. And because the credit card networks are the entities that set the pricing framework for the fees, Walmart and other retailers blame them. While it's easy to jump on Walmart, it's worth noting that they're hardly alone in believing that Visa and MasterCard tend to charge excessive fees for their service. In 2005, a large group of retailers banded together and filed a class action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard alleging that the two companies conspired together to charge excessive fees. The parties involved ultimately settled for a whopping $6 billion.
CurrentC will soon have to compete directly with Apple Pay
CurrentC -- the Apple Pay competitor which made headlines recently due to CVS and Rite Aid's exclusivity agreements -- will soon have to compete directly with Apple's mobile payment option, according to a recent Re/code interview with Dekkers Davidson, CEO of the Merchant Customer Exchange consortium. No timeframe was given, but Davidson noted that the rule preventing CurrentC merchants from accepting Apple Pay would expire in "months, not years." Davidson claims that MCX had to enforce the rule with CVS and Rite Aid to provide "breathing room" for CurrentC to grow. Unfortunately for MCX, the CurrentC app currently has one of the lowest app review scores of all time, with over 3,300 one-star reviews and just 31 five-star reviews on the App Store, according to App Annie's data. Once CurrentC is forced to compete head-to-head with Apple Pay, it's hard to imagine customer sentiment changing.
Apple Pay is helping re-ignite another round of Burger Wars
When Apple announced that Apple Pay would be accepted by McDonalds locations across the land Burger King must have been feeling pretty left out. So much so, in fact, that the well known eatery chain went and got itself a new significant other in the form of PayPal. The payment giant revealed today during the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas that it is teaming up with the second largest burger brand in the world to launch a new mobile payment service. The deal is a bold response to the announced partnership between Apple and McDonalds, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. With McDonalds being the biggest fast food chain in the world, not to mention Apple already feeling upbeat about Apple Pay's adoption after just the first couple of weeks, Burger King and PayPal will surely have their work cut out for them when the mobile payment option launches early in 2015.
Feedback Loop: NFC, 'Evolve' alpha codes and more!
Welcome to this week's edition of Feedback Loop. We take a look at the rising popularity of NFC, give out some Evolve alpha codes and discuss things that are missing from our favorite operating systems. Head past the break to find out what fellow Engadget readers are talking about.
Walgreens trolls competitors by calling Apple Pay support a choice issue
With a massive conglomerate of stores from Walmart to CVS working together to keep customers from being able to use Apple Pay in an effort to force them into a competing service it's obvious the mobile payment wars have begun. CVS competitor Walgreens has chosen its weapon for the battle, and that weapon is snark. The company is currently promoting the following Tweet on Twitter. Hey, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users! The choice is yours: Use #ApplePay today at any of our stores! http://t.co/LXS01ntZEA pic.twitter.com/V0BifDtXJq - Walgreens (@Walgreens) October 28, 2014 Hopefully this becomes a Twitter war, with CVS throwing shade at Walgreens for still selling cigarettes.
How Apple Pay handles a canceled credit card [Updated]
Update: OP on Reddit adds that the cards was already registered. Womp womp. Apple Pay is easy, convenient, and instantly popular enough that its rivals are already trying to kill it through collusion. Of course that's when you're making purchases. How easy is it to deal with things like canceled credit cards? Apparently, very easy, thanks to this story from Reddit user aiken_. In a post on Reddit's Apple forum aiken_ described exactly what happened when a card on your Apple Pay account gets canceled. Apparently the card gets updated with its new number. This morning, I had three Citi cards in Apple Pay: two credit, one debit. This afternoon, I got the dreaded fraud detection call and confirmed that it was not, in fact, me that was simultaneously using the card at several Best Buys in several states thousands of miles away. On the phone, the Citi rep canceled the affected card and ordered a new one to be FedEx'd. So far so good. Immediately upon hanging up, my phone had a notification saying "Apple Pay: your default card has been switched to [non-stolen Citi credit card]." Pretty smooth, and really good attention to detail in the EMVco and/or Apple Pay design. Rather than make you enter the new card number, Apple Pay will be automatically updated to replace the lost, canceled, or stolen card number for you. It's stressful enough to have to replace a card, but in this case Apple Pay makes is so you can start using your new card, even before the physical version arrives at your house. Especially for travelers this is a feature that makes Apple Pay a killer app in the mobile payment field. No wonder their competitors are worried.
Sound Off! Has NFC finally hit the mainstream?
You can find NFC technology in many of the gadgets released in the last few years, but it seems like it never gained much traction in our common lexicon. Sure, there's Google Wallet and using it to easily pair with things (like your camera), but you didn't really see people using it everyday. With Apple Pay recently arriving in consumers' hands, more people are starting to becoming aware of this technology. Did you just start using it or have you been an early adopter all along? What are some cool things that you've done with it? Share your stories and impressions over in the Engadget forums.
Good news Apple Pay fans! MCX confirms that retailers face no fines for leaving CurrentC support behind
In an effort to mitigate the avalanche of criticism stemming from Rite Aid and CVS' decision to disable Apple Pay support, MCX yesterday put up a blogpost to help crystallize what it terms a "misinformed conversation." One notable clarification is that MCX's CurrentC app will, in fact, support payment via credit cards. It remains unclear, though, if this was always the intention or if this is merely a reaction to the recent controversy surrounding Apple Pay. Provide consumers with multiple ways to pay at their favorite merchants, including merchant gift cards, credit cards and debit accounts and personal checking accounts. MCX has plans to add additional forms of payment, including credit cards. Now much has been made of MCX partners being precluded from supporting competing mobile payment platforms. MCX confirms that this is indeed the case, but adds that there are no fines levied if a merchant decides to stop supporting MCX. This is actually great news because it gives retailers the freedom to support Apple Pay in the likelihood that CurrentC fails to gain any traction in the marketplace. MCX merchants make their own decisions about what solutions they want to bring to their customers; the choice is theirs. When merchants choose to work with MCX, they choose to do so exclusively and we're proud of the long list of merchants who have partnered with us. Importantly, if a merchant decides to stop working with MCX, there are no fines. At the same time, keep in mind that retailers who continue to partner with MCX are not free to do as they please. According to a recent report in the New York Times, MCX partners who break exclusivity and offer support for competing mobile platforms such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet face steep fines. MCX did note during a press conference yesterday that Apple Pay support might be allowed "later." As for security, much has been made of the impressively secure mechanisms that govern Apple Pay and the seemingly lax, by comparison, security mechanisms of CurrentC. To that end, MCX's writes: On the data security side, the technology choices we've made take consumers' security into account at every aspect of their core functionality. We want to assure you, MCX does not store sensitive customer information in the app. Users' payment information is instead stored in our secure cloud-hosted network. Removing this sensitive information from the mobile device significantly lowers the risk of it being inappropriately disclosed in a case that the mobile device is hacked, stolen or otherwise compromised. And yet, it appears that CurrentC already seems to have a problem keeping its list of consumer email addresses secure.
Another black eye for MCX -- email list for CurrentC breached
Would you trust a contactless payment solution that can't securely store the email addresses of people who have signed up to be included in the service's rollout? MCX, the company pushing the CurrentC touchless payment alternative to Apple Pay and Google Wallet, sent out the security alert above earlier this morning (10/29/14). It went out to those who signed up for announcements about the service, which is currently in a pilot phase and anticipated to launch fully next year. "Within the last 36 hours," the email says, "we learned that unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you. Based on investigations conducted by MCX security personnel, only these e-mail addresses were involved and no other information." Oops. This may tarnish the reputation of CurrenC and MCX, which obviously will depend on consumer trust when it launches. MCX is already getting some bad publicity thanks to the shutdown of Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Softcard-capable NFC payment terminals at Rite Aid, CVS, Best Buy and other MCX member retailers. While Apple Pay worked on launch day at some of these retailers, they moved to disable it presumably because of contractual requirements of the MCX consortium. Ironically, the MCX website has a current blog post addressing some of the criticisms of the platform and talking up the solution's security model. 12:30pm ET 10/29: Updated with further details.
Walmart issues bogus explanation as to why they don't support Apple Pay
Shortly after Apple introduced Apple Pay, Walmart issued a statement indicating that it had no intention of supporting Apple's new mobile payment platform. Walmart's stance was hardly a surprise given that it's one of the leaders of MCX, a consortium of retailers hell bent on bypassing traditional credit card payments with a completely new mobile payment platform altogether. MCX's own mobile payment solution, dubbed CurrentC, is tentatively scheduled to go live in early 2015. Yesterday, amidst a sea of controversy surrounding CVS disabling support for Apple Pay, Walmart issued a statement to Business Insider explaining why they've chosen not to support Apple Pay. There are certainly a lot of compelling technologies being developed, which is great for the mobile-commerce industry as a whole. Ultimately, what matters is that consumers have a payment option that is widely accepted, secure and developed with their best interests in mind. MCX member merchants already collectively serve a majority of Americans every day. MCX's members believe merchants are in the best position to provide a mobile solution because of their deep insights into their customers' shopping and buying experiences. Walmart couldn't have come up with a more disingenuous statement if they tried. While they're championing (in name only) a mobile payment platform that's widely accepted, secure, and has the best interests of consumers in mind, they're instead lending their support to a solution that serves no one's interests except those of retailers. Apple Pay is secure. Retailer support simply requires a POS machine with NFC functionality. And as for the interests of consumers, Apple Pay is completely intuitive, easy to use, and privacy friendly. CurrentC, in stark contrast, is a cumbersome mobile payment "solution" that relies upon QR codes and the debiting of consumer checking accounts. And as for security, having your phone directly linked up to your checking account is just asking for trouble. On this note, Andy Ihnatko writes: Good luck getting your money back if criminals successfully get into CurrentC's systems and drain thousands of dollars of actual money from your actual checking account. What's really going on here is that retailers like Walmart are waging a not-so-secret war against credit card companies. Every time consumers make a purchase with their credit card, retailers have to pay a percentage of the transaction amount to credit card companies for facilitating the transaction. The fee is known as "interchange," and retailers absolutely hate it. Retailers whose business model rests upon high volume and low margin transactions hate it even more. As a result, MCX was born as a way to dance around interchange fees altogether. Walmart's lip service regarding the best interests of consumers is a farce. Consumers aren't interested in giving retailers "deep insights" into their shopping behavior. That's a metric only retailers care about. And yet here Walmart is -- along with other MCX members -- trying rather overtly to position their own self-serving platform as the only mobile payments platform that benefits consumers. Make no mistake, the MCX consortium isn't specifically targeting Apple Pay. Again, it's a full fledged assault aimed at decreasing the use of credit cards altogether. Note the following excerpt from an enlightening piece on CurrentC written last month by Ron Shevlin: At last year's BAI Retail Delivery conference, I hosted a meeting of CMOs from large FIs, which featured Lee Scott, the former CEO of Walmart (who is a member of MCX). I asked Mr. Scott why, in the face of so many failed consortia before it, would MCX succeed? He said: "I don't know that it will, and I don't care. As long as Visa suffers."
Tim Cook: Over 1 million credit cards have been activated with Apple Pay
While speaking at the WSJD Live event last night, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed some initial data regarding the company's recent rollout of Apple Pay. According to Cook, over 1 million cards have already been loaded up via Apple Pay. Given that Apple Pay remains US-only for now, the 1 million figure is certainly impressive. Cook made a point of noting that the figure is already higher than all other mobile payment platforms combined. Cook added: And we've only been at it a week. I feel fantastic. We're just getting started but the early ramp looks fantastic. And I'm getting flooded with emails from customers. It's sort of that 'ahh' moment - you use the phone and it's all you have to do. With respect to the recent Apple Pay drama involving Rite Aid and CVS, Tim Cook confidently stated that the benefits of Apple Pay will give it the edge in the long run. Cook explained that "over the long arc of time," retailers will have to acquiesce to the services that consumers want.
Apple responds to the Rite Aid, CVS debacle in a very 'Apple' way
Apple is a company of actions, not words. Even when Tim Cook takes the stage to talk about how great his company is, it's always about the here and now, not empty promises about the future. Apple's official response regarding the refusal of Rite Aid and CVS to support Apple Pay -- the company's newly launched NFC payment system -- is deliciously "Apple" in that very same way. Provided to Business Insider, the statement reads: The feedback we are getting from customers and retailers about Apple Pay is overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. We are working to get as many merchants as possible to support this convenient, secure and private payment option for consumers. Many retailers have already seen the benefits and are delighting their customers at over 220,000 locations. In case you're having some trouble reading between the lines, let me translate that for you: Dear Rite Aid/CVS, People are already in love with Apple Pay and it doesn't matter if you don't like it. CurrentC is a disaster -- no, seriously, it has a 1-star rating with over 1,200 reviews -- and the only ones you're hurting by refusing to support our payment system is your own customers. Oh, and Walgreens already accepts Apple Pay, so you can either fall in line or make a nice little shanty over there on the wrong side of tech history. Love, Apple
Wells Fargo will give you $20 for using Apple Pay
If you're a Wells Fargo credit card holder whose been thinking about trying Apple Pay on your new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus the bank as much given you an extra incentive to do so. If you use your Wells Fargo credit card between now and November 30, 2014 to make a purchase with Apple Pay the bank will give you a $20 credit towards your account. While many banks have made a point of supporting the Apple mobile payment service, this is the first time such a generous incentive for trying it. Currently the promotion works with the following cards: Wells Fargo Visa® Credit, Debit, and Prepaid Cards; Wells Fargo MasterCard® Credit Cards; and with the new Wells Fargo Propel American Express® Credit Cards. Business MasterCard® credit cards are not eligible. Business Visa® Credit Cards will be Apple Pay ready in November, 2014. Head over to Wells Fargo's site for all of the fine print.
A closer look at CurrentC: The reason why CVS and Rite Aid are disabling Apple Pay support
Over the weekend, CVS disabled NFC support on its POS machines at all of its nationwide store locations, effectively blocking out support for NFC-based mobile payment solutions like Apple Pay and Google Wallet in the process. Together, CVS and Rite Aid are the first two stores who have taken pro-active measures to disable support for Apple Pay after customers had already began using the payment platform there successfully. Unfortunately, they may not be the last. As we've indicated previously, the impetus for CVS and Rite Aid's decision to disable Apple Pay (and any other mobile payment platform for that matter) stems from their support of CurrentC. CurrentC is an upcoming mobile payments platform developed by a company called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). MCX enjoys the backing of a number of top tier retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, 7-Eleven, and dozens more. But just what is CurrentC, exactly? Moreover, does it pose a legitimate competitive threat to Apple Pay? To help answer those questions, Josh Constine of TechCrunch over the weekend took an in-depth look at CurrentC and provides us with a number of previously unknown details surrounding the competing payment platform. With respect to stores like CVS and Rite Aid disabling support for Apple Pay, that stems from contractual obligations MCX members have made not to support competing mobile payment platforms. In January 2013, Fierce Retail reported MCX had been asking retailers in 2012 to pay a big upfront fee from $250,000 to $500,000 to get on board, and sign three-year mobile payment app exclusivity deals with MCX. Retailers who signed up may have had a one-year grace period from the start of their exclusivity contract to bail out of the deal. If Apple Pay gains steam early, some retailers might look to take advantage of this option to ditch MCX. However, if deals were signed in 2012, that grace period is long gone but retailers may be coming up on the end of their exclusivity agreements even though CurrentC hasn't launched yet. Well, so much for open competition and giving consumers the option to choose how they'd like to pay for items. And while Apple Pay was designed to be a completely seamless, intuitive, and unobtrusive process, CurrentC sounds like a usability nightmare. Instead of relying upon NFC and credit cards, CurrentC relies upon QR codes and is linked to a user's checking account. Yep, you read that correctly... QR codes. When it's time for a user to check out, they request to pay with CurrentC. The consumer then unlocks their phone, opens the CurrentC app, opens the code scanner, and scans the QR code shown on the cashier's screen. In some case, the reverse may happen where the consumer's CurrentC app displays a payment code and the cashier scans it. If a QR code can't be generated, a manually entered numeric code may be offered. Rather than sending the customer's financial data over the air, transactions trigger the transmission of a token placeholder. This is then securely converted by the financial institution to process the ACH payment and charge the user. MCX will likely position CurrentC as a mobile payment platform designed to provide customers with greater access to in-store discounts and loyalty rewards programs. While true, make no mistake about the true aim of CurrentC; giving retailers more control of and access to shopper information and buying habits. CurrentC notes it may share info with your device maker, app store, or developer tool makers. Oddly, it will collect health data. Precise location information is used to verify you're at the retailer where you're making a transaction, and if you opt in it can be used for marketing or advertising. And if that weren't enough, CurrentC requires users to enter in their drivers licence number and social security number. The following photo was taken straight from CurrentC's support website. Taking a look at Constine's full article, it's truly hard to fathom any scenario in which CurrentC actually gains traction with consumers. Especially when measured against the consumer-oriented Apple Pay, CurrentC, both in design and in operation, appears to be more appealing for big time retailers than for actual consumers. This brewing battle between competing mobile payment platforms may play out rather slowly. CurrentC isn't slated to go live until early 2015 and it'll likely be a few good months before we can accurately gauge the potential long-term impact Apple Pay will have on the marketplace. Maybe Apple Pay will revolutionize mobile payments. Maybe it won't. But it's hard to imagine CurrentC, despite its support from big name retailers, having any sort of widespread impact on mobile payments. If anything, the recently released details of CurrentC only serve to highlight how much more compelling and user-friendly Apple Pay is. Comically, the CurrentC app on iTunes already has a solid 1-star rating. One reviewer writes: This app would only provide me with less security and less convenience. Marketed as a better solution than carrying around credit cards, it then lists features that are worse than any card I've ever heard. I don't want my checking account information (yes they want to be directly linked to your bank) and for some reason health data out in some retailer's cloud systems. One star is too good for this thing. And policies around stores using this payment system lock out any other mobile friendly ways of paying, like anything that uses NFC, for no other reason than that they can't track data on you as well if you don't use their system. That locks out things like Google wallet and Apple Pay. Here's a novel idea, take my money however I want to hand it you when I want to pay for something. If you don't want my money, well, I guess good luck with that business model. This app and the incorporated system symbolizes the epitome of not realizing anything about consumers' rights or wants to the point of actually being the opposite of what the people want. Hear, hear. For an additional take on CurrentC, make sure to check out a great piece from Rich Mogull over at TidBITS.
RiteAid and CVS disable Apple Pay in preparation for rival payment system CurrentC
According to The New York Times, both Rite Aid and CVS have disabled Apple Pay payments as an available mobile payments options. Rite Aid confirmed the move, while CVS has not responded to inquiries about the change, which was allegedly instituted this week according to consumer online reports. Ashley Flower, a spokeswoman for Rite Aid, said the company "does not currently accept Apple Pay." She added that Rite Aid was "still in the process of evaluating our mobile payment options." It is thought the pair are rebuffing Apple Pay in order to advance support on a rival mobile payment system being developed by Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX. This consortium of retailers include Walmart, Best Buy, 7-Eleven and others. MCX's payments system, CurrentC, is expected to debut next year and will include the ability for merchants to track customer shopping habits as well as process payments. Apple Pay launched last week with support from a all major credit card companies and a variety of retailers. The mobile payment system is easy to set up and even easier to use.
CVS also disabling support for Apple Pay
Last night, I was with a friend at CVS who was trying to pay for some items with Apple Pay. Oddly, the transaction couldn't be processed. This struck us as strange because Twitter had been abuzz with Apple Pay users indicating that the service has been working swimmingly at CVS. Next, we tried a contactless credit card. Surprisingly, that form of payment couldn't be processed either. The CVS employee there was confused, remarking to us, "That's strange, the machine was working fine yesterday." While I was hoping that this was just a lone case of a malfunctioning POS machine, it appears that CVS is starting to shut off NFC functionality across its stores, effectively locking out mobile payment platforms like Apple Pay and Google Wallet in the process. While Apple Pay users up until now have been able to use the service to purchase items at CVS, a growing number of Twitter users are noting that such payments don't work anymore. Have been waiting to go to cvs just so I can try out apple pay...ONLY FOR IT TO NOT WORK. WTF
Amazon Rewards Visa card now works with Apple Pay
Consumers with Visa's Amazon Rewards card can now use the card with Apple Pay, according to a report from MacRumors. Compatibility with Apple Pay was seemingly green-lit today, and should help alleviate a number of frustrated Amazon Rewards card users who were eager to use Apple's new mobile payment platform. As it stands now, Apple Pay only works with the nation's top banks. In the months ahead, Tim Cook said during Apple's recent iPad event that 500 additional banks will be supporting Apple Pay in the coming months. A full list of banks soon to be on the Apple Pay bandwagon can be viewed on Visa's website and via a recent MasterCard press release.
