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Apple Pay is Apple’s mobile payments solution that allows users to seamlessly use their phone to pay for purchases both in retail stores, apps, and the web. The service was first introduced in 2014 and has been expanding to additional countries ever since then.

The service works in retail stores by simply holding your iPhone over a compatible checkout terminal and authenticating the purchase via Touch ID, or your Apple Watch with no further authentication required once you have unlocked the Watch. It’ss compatible with all iPhones from 6/6 Plus and and beyond, and all versions of Apple Watch.

In apps, it works by pulling in your card information and seamlessly allowing you to checkout using that card information. This prevents you from having to manually enter your card information every time you want to make a purchase. In addition to working with all of the iPhone models previously mentioned, Apple Pay in apps also works on iPads from the iPad mini 3 and Air 2 and beyond. Apple Pay is supported on the Mac and on the web with iOS 10 and macOS Sierra and beyond.

In addition to working with debit and credit cards, Apple Pay also works with rewards cards and store cards. This means that you can add something like your Starbucks card, Walgreens Balance Rewards card, and more to the Wallet app to easily keep track of everything.

To set up Apple Pay on an iPhone, open the Wallet app on iOS 11 and tap the plus (+) icon in the top right corner to begin, then follow the prompts. To add a debit card to the Apple Watch, go to the Apple Watch app on iPhone and look for the Wallet & Apple Pay section, then Add Credit or Debit Card section.

Apple Pay is the dominant mobile payments solution, even forcing its biggest potential competitor to shutdown, and as the service continues to expand, it will only get better. View the full list of retailers and banks that support the service on Apple’s website

Apple Pay is available in the following countries (click the country name to see compatible banks):

Australia

China*

Hong Kong

Japan

Kazakhstan

New Zealand

Singapore

Taiwan

Belgium

Czech Republic

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Guernsey

Ireland

Isle of Man

Italy

Jersey

Monaco

Norway

Poland

Russia

San Marino

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Vatican City

Brazil

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Canada

The United States

Apple opening up (some) access to the iPhone’s NFC chip in iOS 11

Third-party app developers will for the first time get access to the NFC chip in the iPhone 7/Plus (and presumably this year’s iPhones) in iOS 11. To date, only Apple Pay has been allowed to use the near-field communications chip.

Apple’s WWDC keynote did give one hint that use of the chip was being extended beyond payment when it showed the Apple Watch syncing data with gym equipment, but a new developer document says that third-party apps will be able to use it too …


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Comment: China shows the future of mobile payment as it hits more than 50% of GDP

Listening to some of the Apple Pay stats put forward by the company, you might get the impression that the payment method is taking the market by storm. In Apple’s Q1 2017 earnings call, Tim Cook told us that the number of Apple Pay users tripled year-on-year, and that transaction volumes increased by 500%.

In Q2, we finally got some actual numbers, at least for the US: a total of 4.5M transactions to date.

But while these are big numbers, they are still a drop in the ocean given that total card transactions are numbered in the tens of billions each year. Viewed in this light, Apple Pay accounts for a fraction of a percent of all card purchases.

However, if you want to see the potential of mobile payments, you need look no further than China …


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Apple Pay accused of violating patents after inventor held discussions with Visa, pitched Apple

Apple has been accused of violating the patents of a Boston-based company through its launch of Apple Pay. Universal Secure Registry CEO Kenneth Weiss says he ‘was the first in the space, and the secure payment technology that he developed goes right to the core of Apple Pay.’

In an interview, Weiss says that the patents cover all three key elements of Apple Pay.

Kenneth P. Weiss, received 13 patents for authentication systems that use a smartphone, biometric identification such as a fingerprint and the generation of secure one-time tokens to conduct financial transactions.

While it’s not unusual for more than one company to be simultaneously working on the same technology, Weiss says that in this case both Visa and Apple were aware of his technology four years prior to the launch of Apple Pay …


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Delivery.com removes Apple Pay as payment choice for laundry orders, citing problems outside its control

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Apple Pay has been expanding at a relatively brisk pace over recent months, with the payment platform expanding to new countries, new apps, and more. This time, however, Apple Pay has actually been removed as a payment option from popular delivery services platform Delivery.com, with the company citing issues out of its control…


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Apple Pay adds support for 20+ banks and credit unions in the US, HSBC in Australia

Apple today added over 20 additional banks and credit unions to its list of those that officially support Apple Pay. The new additions follow over 20 added a couple of weeks back for users in the U.S. and China.

Today’s update includes 23 banks and credit unions in total for the US, and brings support for HSBC in Australia with both MasterCard and Visa credit cards supported.

Apple typically adds support for new banks and credit unions every 2-3 weeks and keeps track of supported institutions for all regions where Apple Pay is available on its website.

In addition to the U.S., the service is now available in Canada, France, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Spain, Ireland, and Taiwan. Earlier this year, hints at preparations for launches in Germany and Italy were also discovered, but Apple has yet to make things official for those countries.

As for retailer support, Apple Pay head Jennifer Bailey said last year that around 35 percent of US retailers are now supporting the service. Notably, Exxon Mobil Speedpass+ recently introduced support for Apple Pay for purchasing gas from Apple Watch, Starbucks launched an iMessage app for sending gift cards with Apple Pay, and Comcast is rolling out support for bill payments using Apple Pay.

Next up for Apple Pay could be person-to-person payments and possibly its own prepaid debit cards, according to a report late last month.

The full list of newly added banks is below:


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Report: Apple in talks to extend Apple Pay with person-to-person payments, offer its own prepaid debit cards

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Apple is reportedly in talks with partners to launch its own person-to-person payments service, extending the breadth of Apple Pay and closely competing with services like Venmo or Square Cash. Recode reports that the company wants to announce the payments-between-friends feature later this year — although plans can change.

Recode says that Apple has also held talks with Visa about the possibility of creating virtual Apple prepaid debit cards. This would allow users to spend the money they get from the new peer-to-peer payments service instantly without having to wait for the money to clear in their bank account.


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Apple Pay expands to over 20 more banks and credit unions across the US and China

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Apple Pay is now available from over 20 more banks and credit unions around the United States and Mainland China as part of the latest expansion wave. Apple’s mobile payment service launched just over two years ago with hundreds of additional regional banks and credit unions added every few weeks. You can find the latest banks added below.


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Western Union now lets you Apple Pay for mobile money transfers and bill payments

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Western Union has long supported Apple Pay in stores for sending money and paying bills, and now the service is bringing in-app support for Apple Pay to mobile money transfers. This lets you send cash from your bank account to someone else using Apple’s fast and secure payment service rather than manually entering in and saving your debit card information.


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Australian banks officially denied right to collectively negotiate with Apple

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Standing firm on the decision it originally handed down in November, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has officially rejected a proposal from a handful of big Australian banks that would have allowed them to negotiate in a group with Apple.

The news comes as Apple Pay’s rollout continues to lag in Australia due to disagreements between Apple and the big banks.


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Square brings its Apple Pay-compatible card readers to small businesses in the UK

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Square has now launched in the UK, allowing small businesses to accept payment by both cards and Apple Pay through its iPhone- and iPad-connected card readers. Even better, UK businesses will pay a lower transaction fee than Square charges in the USA.

A small white box combines a slot for chip-and-PIN cards and an NFC reader for contactless cards and Apple Pay …


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Wells Fargo introducing cardless Apple Pay ATM withdrawals later this year

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Wells Fargo has announced that you’ll be able to use Apple Pay to withdraw cash from many of its ATMs from later in the year. No card will be needed.

The company last week announced a first step in cardless ATM usage, but the clunkiness of the approach suggests something you’d use only in emergencies – if you’ve left home without your card.


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Apple Pay ‘State of the Union’ report details adoption among retailers

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Apple Pay has been steadily growing as Apple continues to add support for new banks and rolls out the service to users in more countries, but we have less data on how much its been adopted in retail and among users. Giving some insight to usage, Apple analyst Gene Munster at Loup Ventures today released his “Apple Pay State of the Union” giving a look at adoption among retailers and much more.

Using the Internet Retailer top 100, the data shows retailer adoption as a percentage of potential adoption. The adoption includes all possible points of adoption for the platform including point of sale, in app, and through Apple Pay on the web for website checkout on both mobile and desktop browsers. Among the numbers, 31% have implemented at least one point of adoption, while an impressive 44% of the Internet Retailer 100 have adopted Apple Pay at point of sale. A similar 40% have adopted it as an in-app payment option.

When looking at those that have adopted Apple Pay at all possible points of adoption, it currently sits at 22% for the top 100.


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