Chase is expanding its rewards program for credit card holders with a new way to buy Apple products using points. The new Apple Ultimate Rewards Store includes a variety of Apple hardware including iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, HomePod, and Apple TV. Chase is also launching a limited time offer on eligible Apple merchandise to promote the new program.
Remember CurrentC, the mobile payment service that kept getting in Apple’s way when Apple Pay launched a few years ago? MCX is the merchant consortium that was behind the QR code-based mobile payment service that ultimately never launched, and today JPMorgan Chase announced that it has acquired MCX’s payment technology.
Yet another bank has announced today that it is launching its own mobile payment solution. At the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas today, Chase announced that it is launching Chase Pay. Chase Pay is digital wallet solution similar to Apple Pay that allows users to pay with their phones at retail locations and online (via Re/code).
During a conference call with JPMorgan Chase investors today, executives announced that Chase Bank has activated over one million Apple Pay accounts since the service launched last year (via AppleInsider). The bank revealed some statistics about who’s using Apple Pay with their Chase cards, and how they’re using it.
Chase found that the average Apple Pay user is nine years younger and makes 21% more money than its average customers. Apple Pay users also used their credit cards more often, and were more likely to add a credit card than a debit card to their account.
Earlier this month Apple added support for 19 new banks, bringing the total number of financial institutions supporting Apple Pay to over eighty. Just a few weeks before that 15 additional banks were added to the lineup.
We heard earlier this week that the Orlando Magic would become the first NBA team to offer Apple Pay to fans through a partnership with Chase. Today we get the official announcement from the team confirming an Apple Pay launch at the Amway Center for this Friday, Dec. 19 and some other details regarding special promos:
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Ad Age reports that Chase is running its first TV ad for Apple Pay, focusing on use in small businesses, and featuring Fun lead guitarist Jack Antonoff’s side indie band Bleachers.
The ad, out of creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, features members of indie pop band Bleachers roaming Los Angeles in the hours leading up to a performance. The musicians make purchases along the way using their Chase Freedom credits cards — but through Apple Pay on their iPhones, not the physical cards.
Chase said that Apple was heavily involved with the ad …
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A fix for a bug in Apple Pay that causes credit cards from Chase and others to not display the correct physical card design is being worked on, according to sources close to the situation.
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Following our report yesterday that some card types are not yet supported with Apple Pay, today Amazon confirmed in a statement to GeekWire that its working to offer support for its Amazon Rewards Visa Cards.
A Chase spokesman confirmed to GeekWire that Amazon is not supporting Apple Pay initially, but did not provide a reason… But an Amazon spokesman confirmed to GeekWire this evening it is working to enable the Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card for use on Apple Pay, although declined to say when it would be available.
Yesterday we noted that some co-branded cards, as well as other card types from business cards to prepaid cards, are not yet supported on Apple Pay through certain banks. Many readers reported that Amazon’s Rewards cards for Chase were not yet working, but today is our first official word from Amazon that its indeed not yet supporting the platform. Apple lists Chase as supporting co-branded cards, but it does warn users to contact their bank for information about specific cards that are supported.
As we noted yesterday, Apple’s support document confirms that only American Express and Capital One are listed as supporting small business credit cards, for example. Capital One and J.P. Morgan, on the other hand, don’t support Co-branded cards (Airline, hotel, retail, rewards), while the other banks do. Corporate cards are also not yet supported, while several readers report problems with some card types that are listed as supported in Apple’s chart (below).
Chase updated its iPhone app today with a new design for iOS 7—nearly a year after the operating system was first shown to the public—and a few new features. The update also includes the ability to see and reply to secure messages from the bank, as well as the ability to view limits on your mobile desposits.
Other updates to the app include Spanish localization, improved accessibility features, and a revised frequently asked questions page about the app’s security.
You can grab the updated Chase app for free on the iOS App Store.
What’s New in Version 2.331
•User interface optimized for iOS7
•See & reply to secure messages
•See current Chase QuickDepositSM limits
•Spanish version available when you change your phone’s language setting to Spanish
•Improved accessibility for visually-impaired users
•Updated FAQs for mobile security
Our take? We’re in full agreement with the below:
https://twitter.com/chronic/status/457505589342392321
9to5Mac has once again scoured the App Store for all the latest app launches, price drops, noteworthy news, and updates, and we have compiled everything in a roundup below. Check it out, but keep coming back as we continually refresh the list throughout the day.
1. Rovio | Rovio App Store Hub
The brains behind the popular Angry Birds Franchise, as well as Bad Piggies and Amazing Alex, just announced via a blog post that Angry Birds saw over 30 million downloads during Christmas week—with 8 million of them being on Christmas Day alone:
Wow, what a year! We released four critically-acclaimed bestselling mobile games, developed two top-rated Facebook games, and reached more than a billion downloads — all before our 3rd “Birdday”! Angry Birds Star Wars and Bad Piggies in particular have dominated the app charts, with Angry Birds Star Wars holding the #1 position on the US iPhone chart ever since its release! To top it all off, we had 30 million downloads during Christmas week (December 22-29) and, on Christmas Day, over 8 million downloads in 24 hours alone!
Check out the infographic above for more details.
1. Words With Friends – Universal | $2.99
Version 5.70 is now live and features the ability to play with non-Facebook-connected users. The changelog also includes enhanced support for iPhone 5 and the opportunity to post challenges to Facebook friends’ walls. The usual, yet unspecified, bug fixes and improvements are also present.
2. Snapseed – Universal | Free
This popular Google-owned photo app pushed out version 1.5.1, but the update only features a fixed issue in which opening images from camera roll could cause a crash, general bug fixes, and improvements.
3. Scribblenauts Remix – Universal | 99 cents
Version 2.7 landed yesterday and brought the ability to revert back to the original playground and icon. The changelog also boasts minor bug fixes.
More apps, updates, and deals are below.
