Apple Pay

Thanks to macOS Sierra and iOS 10, you can now use Apple Pay on the web through Safari. Apple Pay was previously not available on the Mac and required apps for use on the iPhone and iPad. Apple Pay makes checking out online secure and convenient without the need to fill out billing and shipping information with an online form. Here’s how to get started with Apple Pay on the web:

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Apple Pay has now notched up ten countries as it goes live in Russia today. The country joins Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and U.S. in supporting Apple’s mobile wallet service.

The launch was marked on Apple’s Russian website, though the company has yet to update the Apple Pay availability page of its U.S. site.

Support in Russia is currently limited to one bank and one card type …

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Sunset over Taiwan’s capital, Taipei

A brief Digitimes report suggests that Taiwan is one of the next countries in line to get Apple Pay, possibly by the end of the year.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission has started accepting applications from banks for providing Apple Pay mobile payment services and Taiwan users will be able to apply for using Apply Pay at the end of 2016 at the earliest.

Four banks are expected to support the service …

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Following reports that Apple Pay will launch in Japan next year, the service today has expanded to a handful of new banks in the United States. Apple today updated its Apple Pay support document to add over 20 new banks and credit unions in the United States.

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It was reported last month that Apple is planning to launch an iPhone model in Japan with support for the widely used FeliCa mobile payment technology. Now, Nikkei Asian Review reports that Apple is planning to partner with Sony to bring the technology to the iPhone next year.

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A month after Australian banks demanded the right to have their own apps access the NFC chip used for Apple Pay, Apple has issued a formal response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The company argues that giving Australian banks what they want would be doubly harmful to consumers.

A fortnight ago, the ACCC denied the banks an interim ruling, but said that it would be considering the matter more fully.

Apple initially dismissed the idea on security grounds, also claiming that the banks were acting as an illegal cartel. It has now made a 21-page formal submission to the competition authorities, explaining the two additional reasons it believes such a move would be detrimental to the interests of consumers …

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Much has been written about the convenience of Apple Pay, especially on an Apple Watch. Instead of reaching into your pocket or bag for your wallet, and extracting the card you want to use, you can simply double-click the side button on the Watch and hold out your wrist.

But there’s one aspect of Apple Pay that I’ve always felt fails to get the full attention it deserves: the fact that it never hands over your card details to retailers. Even on Apple’s own microsite, the feature is buried in a paragraph whose heading is about the use of fingerprints.

Yet the list of major chains who have seen customer card details compromised is virtually a Who’s Who of retailing and the hotel trade. Acer, Carphone Warehouse, CVS Photo, Eddie Bauer, Hilton, Home Depot, K-Mart, Marriott Hotels, Michaels, Neiman Marcus, P.F. Chang’s, Staples, Starwood Hotels, SuperValu, Target, Trump Hotels and Wendy’s. That’s even before we get into the Oracle hack that may have exposed almost every US credit card … 

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The Australian banks have been denied permission to act as a monopolistic cartel in the country, preventing them from negotiating collectively with Apple over Apple Pay terms for the time being as reported by Reuters. Australian banks are resisting adoption of Apple’s mobile payment solution (available in iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s), referring to hefty fees and loss of customer control.

Apple says that the banks are being anti-competitive by blocking the introduction of innovative payment technologies like Apple Pay. The banks want to force Apple to open up the NFC chip to third-party developers, which Apple says would cripple the security standards of its platform.

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Not one to shy away from the spotlight, Kanye West has announced that this weekend he’ll be opening up 21 pop shops around the world, some of which will be exclusively accepting Apple Pay thanks to a partnership with Square. Square’s contactless readers will be available in the U.S., Canada, and Australia so that customers can focus on paying for their items as quickly as possible. West claimed that the last pop-up shop had generated $2 million in sales in New York City alone, so a high revenue weekend like this could be great exposure for Square’s technology.

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The total number of UK banks and card companies supporting Apple Pay has reached 20, as Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank announced that they now support the mobile payment platform. Though originally separate, the two banks were merged in 2005, retaining separate branding but operating as a single legal entity, CYBG …

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As Apple Pay continues to expand to more banks in the United States and around the world, it’s slowly coming to more retail locations, as well. Next on the docket for Apple Pay support appears to be Chick-Fil-A, according to a tweet from the restaurant chain.

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Apple has added a second round of new Apple Pay banks and credit union partners in the United States for the month of August. These are the latest banks to work with Apple’s mobile payment service:

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CVS today joined Walmart in continuing to resist Apple Pay, instead launching its own mobile payments solution. In a press release, CVS officially announced CVS Pay, a barcode-based solution to paying for goods and prescriptions in the company’s retail locations.

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Apple has made a formal complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in response to resistance from Australian financial institutions to adopt Apple Pay. Apple says the country’s three largest banks have formed a monopolistic cartel and are collectively dictating terms of new payment business models, like Apple Pay.

It also rejected the request from banks to let them have access to the NFC radio and create alternate contactless payment systems on top of the iPhone. Apple says doing so would compromise the security of its platform as it mandates very high standards when customers make payments on Apple systems.

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Almost two years since its launch, Apple Pay is still continuing to get picked up by additional banks and credit unions across the United States. The latest round of new Apple Pay partners also includes more card options for Apple Pay customers in Canada as well. These are the latest banks and cards to work with Apple Pay:

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Australia’s three biggest banks are claiming that Apple is in breach of antitrust laws by not allowing third-party mobile payment apps to use the NFC chip used by Apple Pay for contactless payment.

Reuters reports that the banks have initially requested permission from regulators to jointly negotiate with Apple – ironically, because they might themselves be in breach of antitrust laws if they clubbed together to negotiate without clearance to do so …

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Following its launch in France earlier today, Apple Pay is now live in Hong Kong, as well. This rollout was previously teased by Apple at WWDC last month, but now users in Hong Kong can officially take advantage of the company’s mobile payment solution.

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Following the announcement that the service is now available in France, Apple Pay in the United States has also expanded to a handful of new banks and credit unions. According to Apple’s support document, the service is now supported by an additional handful of locations across the country.

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At WWDC last month, Apple announced that its Apple Pay mobile payments service would be coming to France, and now the service has officially went live in the country. With the rollout in France, which was first rumored earlier this year, Apple Pay is now available in 8 countries.

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