Apple has released the Apple Pay service, which is a contactless payment technology. With it, users are able to place their iPhones up to a contactless card terminal and use their fingerprint on the Touch ID to pay for what they want to purchase.
When Tim Cook introduced this new service, he said that most of the people use credit cards nowadays, but this kind of system is almost 50 years old and they want to bring something new. This way, people will just need to add the credit card into their Apple Pay account and they will no longer have to carry the credit card with them anymore.
Cook also said that there are over 200 million credit card transactions every day only in the US. This made him and his team to think about implementing this new payment service to make things easier for the people. At the same time, it is good to know that Apple will also gain billions of dollars out of this new Apple Pay feature.
According to Bloomberg, Apple will receive a fee for every Apple Pay transaction, meaning that the company will be able to receive a share of more than 40 billion dollars that banks generate each year from credit card transactions.
Setting up Apple Pay on your iPhone and iPad
In order to install Apple Pay on your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, you will need to open the passbook and follow the steps below:
– Once you open the Passbook, press the + symbol and add your credit card
– In case you have a supported credit or debit card on file with iTunes you will need to enter the credit card’s security code. You can also capture the information of the credit card by using the camera from your device
– Now tap on Next, and the bank will verify your information and decide if they will allow to add the card to Apple Pay or not. In case the banks need more information, they will ask you to provide additional verification. Keep in mind that you can also verify the credit card anytime after you add it to the Passbook.
Devices that work with Apple Pay
There are not many devices that work with the Apple Pay. This new service currently works on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch. This is because Apple Pay requires the NFC feature to communicate with contactless payment terminals. Keep in mind that previous iPhones don’t have the NFC feature, so there’s no way you can use older iPhones with Apple Pay.
According to some rumors, the next generation iPad will also feature Touch ID and will be released sometime in October 2015. With other words, there are high chances that the upcoming iPad device will support Apple Pay.
Apple Pay and how it works
When you want to pay for something, you will simply take out your iPhone 6 device and bring it close to the NFC reader. Keep in mind that you will not need to launch any application, because the iPhone will detect the NFC terminal and it will know that you want to make a payment. On the screen you will see the total amount of money you are about to pay and from what card the money will be withdrawn. In order to confirm the payment, you will need to tap the Touch ID with your finger and in a few seconds, the transaction will be complete. Once the payment is accepted, the iPhone 6 will make a subtle vibration to let you know that everything went fine.
How secure is Apple Pay?
It seems that after adding your credit card(s) to it, the numbers of the cards are no longer stored on your iPhone. Instead, a unique device account number will be assigned to each payment method and security stored in a new coprocessor called “The Secure Element”.
The rest of the application that are installed on your iPhone will not have access to this Secure Element chip, so all your credit card details are safe. However, even if someone is accessing your phone, they can’t approve any transactions without your fingerprint.
What stores accept Apple Pay?
Apple Pay is accepted by both applications and stores. Apple is already working on stores such as: McDonalds, Nike, Disney Stores, Whole Foods, PetCo and more. It seems that soon enough applications such as Uber, Tickets.com, OpenTable, Groupon, OpenTable, Target and more will support Apple Pay.
We’re pretty sure that Apple Pay will be soon enough used by a lot of people. This way, they will not need to have any wallet or credit cards on them. It’s not sure yet when other countries will accept the new payment system from Apple, but there are rumors which say that the American multinational technology company is already talking with banks from other countries about Apple Pay.
What are your thoughts about Apple Pay? Do you think it’s more secure than paying with your credit card?
