Apple Pay adds more countries and banks hoping to replace American’s plastic with iPhones. Google Wallet was around long before Apple Pay and has been re-branded as Android Pay to better compete with Apple. Yet it is Apple who is continually pushing merchants, banks, countries and users to adopt their form of mobile payment system. It’s obvious Apple sees the value in mobile payments and making the experience as seamless as possible. While Android Pay is no slouch and the system works well, Apple has been the aggressor when it comes to marketing and finding companies and businesses to work with.
Starting today Apple Pay will be available to users in Canada and starting Thursday it will be available in Australia but will be limited to American Express cards. Apple says dealing with American Express is easier than Visa and Mastercard as AMEX is both the card-issuer and payment operator. With Visa and Mastercard there are several third party issuers and payment operators making it a more complex dealing. That even holds true for the US as not all banks are on board yet with Apple Pay. Most of the major banks have been on Apple Pay but smaller banks have had to wait due to the complexity of card issuing and payments. But it looks like more of those smaller banks will be getting a taste of Apple Pay today.
In the U.S., where Apple Pay started in October 2014, the service will expand Tuesday to more than 100 additional card issuers — mostly smaller banks and credit unions. Apple Pay already accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards from most major banks. In the U.K., Tesco and TSB banks will join Apple Pay on Tuesday.
Apple is working with makers of various payment machines to bring tapping capabilities to additional merchants, small and large. When Apple Pay launched, the U.S. had 200,000 tap-capable machines. That’s expected to surpass 1.5 million this year. The growth includes about 100,000 small to medium-sized merchants each month, Apple said.
Outside of the US tap to pay has been going on for some time now, it’s a strange concept for some Americans and the security of it is where most are unsure. While methods like Android Pay and Apple Pay are more secure, it will take some convincing to get American’s plastic out of their hands.
[button link=”http://www.cbsnews.com/news/apple-pay-expands-as-it-vies-for-broader-acceptance/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: CBS[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
