mobile payment service

With Apple steadily rolling out its mobile payment service across the United States, support for Apple Pay has now gone live from these new banks and credit unions:
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Apple is reportedly planning to launch Apple Pay in Canada, its first expansion of the payments service outside the U.S., this fall, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The company is reportedly in talks with banks for a launch as soon as November:
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Research shared by Phoenix Marketing International offers new data for Apple Pay‘s adoption and performance since it launched in the United States in October last year. The survey polled just over 3,000 credit cardholders to conclude that “11% of all credit card-owning households” and two out of three iPhone 6 users have used Apple Pay. Aside from a high adoption rate for the mobile payment service, the survey also highlights that almost half of those Apple Pay users have used the service just one time.
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Apple Pay partner MasterCard used the PGA Tour kickoff in Phoenix earlier this year to promote Apple’s mobile payment service, and today MasterCard announced that Apple Pay will be accepted at the upcoming Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida. MasterCard says that almost all vendors at the golf event will accept Apple Pay and other contactless payment options for paying for merchandise and concessions.
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Ahead of likely Apple Watch and Apple Pay announcements on Monday during Apple’s ‘Spring forward’ event, Apple has spruced up the main Apple Pay site to further highlight the Watch’s compatibility with Apple Pay and clarify frequently asked questions about the service for merchants. Changes to the site include a dedicated page for finding out where to use Apple Pay, and a new FAQ support document to help merchants learn about Apple Pay and start accepting the mobile payment service.
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We learned last fall that Apple plans to bring Apple Pay to China by partnering with UnionPay. Code found within iOS pointed to Apple preparing its mobile payment service for China while MarketWatch reported Apple was working on a deal with the institution. Several months later, however, MarketWatch now reports that Apple is “struggling with its relationship with UnionPay,” adding that Apple has not yet established an agreement it hoped to reach by March.
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Apple unveiled its mobile payment service Apple Pay last September alongside the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch later rolling it out to new iPhone users in October through the free iOS 8.1 software update. Dozens of banks and credit unions have flipped the switch on Apple Pay since then as more merchants have announced support or plans to accept the new payment method.

Apple Pay, which allows users to securely pay in stores using the latest models of the iPhone simply by placing the smartphone near a special terminal, uses your existing credit or debit card without revealing personal information like your name or card number to merchants.

In practice, Apple Pay is a real delight to use as a payment method as it feels a bit like you’re skipping the payment process altogether; I imagine moving from cash and checks to debit and credit cards years ago felt similar. There’s still a social oddity about paying with your phone in many parts of the United States in 2015, though, which I’m not sure happened with the transition to using cards.
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Following the addition of eight additional card issuers and banks earlier this month, Apple has updated its list of supported institutions and card types to include 15 more credit unions and banks. These new banks are listed as supporting Apple Pay as of today:
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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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