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.
Adding to the growing list of banks and card issuers adding support for Apple Pay in recent weeks, America First Credit Union today announced it’s rolling out Apple Pay support for its Visa card.
“Security and privacy is our upmost priority when it comes to offering our members the latest in technology and mobile advancements,” said Rich Syme, executive vice president at America First Credit Union. “Apple Pay will bring a new level of efficiency for members, allowing them to pay with their mobile devices in a fast, easy and secure way.”
Apple has been adding several new banks since first launching Apple Pay last month and now lists a total of 17 card issuers (not including America First Credit Union) on its support document last updated earlier this week. There is, however, a long list of banks that have already announced support will arrive soon. The list also includes information for supported card types available through the banking partners. A growing list of retailers have also added support for the service at retail locations recently.
We have a running list of banks that plan to support Apple Pay in the coming weeks and months here. We also have a running list of the latest stores and apps that accept Apple Pay here. Expand Expanding Close
Staples shared in an announcement today that it is now accepting Apple Pay transactions at its “over 1,200 stores” in the United States for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users. Apple Pay, of course, will also be available for iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5s users starting next year when paired with the upcoming Apple Watch. Apple included Staples in its list of retail partners when announcing its secure mobile payment service, although Apple noted that support would be “coming later this year” from the retailer as it was available in time for last month’s launch. Expand Expanding Close
CurrentC, the much discussed infamous competitor to the Apple Pay mobile payments platform, has some more bad press coming its way. According to an email sent out this morning to its pilot program customers, the MCX service has already been hacked. According to the notice, “unauthorized third parties” obtained email address information for an unannounced number of users:
Thank you for your interest in CurrentC. You are receiving this message because you are either a participant in our pilot program or requested information about CurrentC. Within the last 36 hours, we learned that unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you. Based on investigations conducted by MCX security personnel, only these e-mail addresses were involved and no other information.
In an abundance of caution, we wanted to make you aware of this incident and urge you not to open links or attachments from unknown third parties. Also know that neither CurrentC nor Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) will ever send you emails asking for your financial account, social security number or other personally identifiable information. So if you are ever asked for this information in an email, you can be confident it is not from us and you should not respond.
MCX is continuing to investigate this situation and will provide updates as necessary. We take the security of your information extremely seriously, apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your support of CurrentC.
For those not following the MCX vs. Apple Pay saga, MCX powers a payments platform utilized by key retailers such as WalMart, CVS, and RiteAid. After initially supporting NFC-based payments via Apple Pay and Google Wallet, those aforementioned retailers shut down their industry standard NFC-based payment processing systems in favor of the CurrentC app from MCX.
The popular fine dining restaurant chain Taco Bell has blacked out its Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as its website today to draw full attention to its new iPhone app. Why? Because you can finally order your Nacho Cheese Doritos® Chips Taco Supreme® right from your iPhone and pay in the app. Expand Expanding Close
Apple Pay launched last week with widespread support at over 220,000 stores in the United States, although Walmart alongside CVS and Rite Aid are among some of the high-profile retailers that have not embraced the new mobile payments service. Now, Walmart has provided official comment as to why it doesn’t accept Apple Pay at its stores. Expand Expanding Close
If you’ve ever made a contactless credit card payment in a retail store, you’ve likely run into a VeriFone NFC-terminal: recent estimates put it at approximately 60% global market share for EMV payment terminals, for example. Today, the company is launching a new campaign along with payment processing company Vantiv that encourages Verifone’s massive network of clients to upgrade their terminals and get ready for Apple Pay: Expand Expanding Close
Following up on a bevy of miscellaneous issues with Apple Pay, some Bank of America account holders are now reporting that the new service is charging them twice for some transactions. Re/code has now confirmed that Bank of America is in fact experiencing a technical error that is causing the double charges and is currently attempting to roll out a solution that will resolve the problem.
The glitch was apparently the result of a miscommunication between the bank’s systems and an unnamed payment network and wasn’t Apple’s fault at all, according to the report. The bank said that only about 1,000 transactions were affected by the problem, which is a relatively minute number compared to the number of transactions likely being carried out nationwide today.
An internal memo sent to Panera Bread employees and acquired by 9to5Mac has revealed that Apple will launch its mobile payment platform on Monday, October 20th. Panera Bread was listed as one of the initial launch partners for Apple Pay during its introduction last month.
An online training course for employees has been published that includes instructions for the VeriFone readers, including the Apple Pay functions. Stores that don’t have the appropriate hardware to support the technology will receive further information on the 20th about how the company plans to handle payments those locations. Expand Expanding Close
Over the weekend we detailed how Apple and retailers are preparing for Apple Pay, the iPhone 6 and Touch ID-secured mobile payment system launching as soon as this week, including the setup process through Passbook. At launch Apple Pay will be supported by a number of retailers, restaurants and more including McDonald’s which plans to even accept Apple Pay from your iPhone 6 at the drive through… Expand Expanding Close
PayPal appears to be calling out Apple and its newly announced mobile payment service Apple Pay with an ad appearing in The New York Times print edition (via Pando Daily) indirectly reminding people of last month’s disastrous iCloud photo leak when a list of celebrities found their personal photos an intimate situations published on the web. The ad reads “We the people want our money safer than our selfies,” but PayPal isn’t without its own security issue in the past.
TechCrunch is reporting today that Apple and mobile payment processor Square were briefly in talks about a possible acqusition. The talks didn’t get far, it seems, as the two companies couldn’t reach an agreement on how much Square was actually worth. Eventually, Square walked away:
Separately, TechCrunch has heard that Square and Apple were in acquisition talks, but that Square walked away. Apple wanted the company to come aboard, but the discussed price was a sticking point: Apple wanted to buy Square for around $3 billion, one source said. Square, valued at the time at a firm 66 percent delta to that price point, declined to accept.
It’s interesting to consider what Apple Pay might have looked like if the merger had gone through. You can read the more over at TechCrunch.
An internal memo sent to McDonald’s franchises this week indicates that the fast food chain is preparing to roll out a mobile payment platform on September 15th. According to the notice, employees are required to be trained on the systems by Monday the 15th and the hardware, which has already started arriving at some locations, must be installed and tested before that date.
It doesn’t seem likely that this is Apple’s upcoming iPhone-exclusive payment system, which the the Cupertino tech firm is already partnering with retailers to roll out, but will instead be a cross-platform NFC option using standard VeriFone hardware that already exists in many locations. That’s not to say the iPhone 6 won’t be able to take advantage of this, as the unannounced device is said to support NFC using chips made by XNP.
According to the Bank Innovations report, people familiar with Nordstrom’s systems have confirmed that the company’s current point-of-sale hardware is purchased from Apple and recently received a software update to work “with the latest iPhones.” These devices are said to be the same updated EasyPay systems implemented recently in Apple Stores across the country.
WIRED is the latest publication to report that the soon-to-be-announced iPhone 6 will be accompanied by a new mobile payment system using NFC technology.
The company’s next iPhone will feature its own payment platform, sources familiar with the matter told WIRED. In fact, that platform will be one of the hallmark features of the device when it’s unveiled on September 9. We’re told the solution will involve NFC.
Square launched its app Cash last fall making the process of sending money from your bank to other people over email, and today the company is introducing the next major version of its app. Square Cash 2.0 introduces a list of new features including the ability to now send a transaction over text messaging in addition to email and attach notes to payments for adding context to a transaction. Below you can see the full list of changes in the new version.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Everything is better in Cash 2.0!
• Send cash to any mobile phone number via text message.
• Faster, optimized sending interface.
• Import your address book for quick contact selection.
• Add a note to your payments.
• Pick a profile picture.
• Choose push notifications, text messages, or email notifications.
• Manage all of your email addresses and phone numbers in one place.
• Quickly approve incoming requests from a push notification or text message.
• Invite friends via text message and get $1 when they join.
Square Cash 2.0 is available for free on the App Store.
Today, Square announced a new version of its popular mobile payment system that will support EMV chipped credit cards. EMV is a joint effort from MasterCard and Visa to help improve security credit and debit card transactions and is set to become a standard in the US by October 2015. In addition to EMV-equipped credit cards, the new version of Square’s payment system will still feature support for legacy magnetic strips, so customers will still have the option to swipe and sign.
Yesterday Apple rolled out its new iTunes Pass service to Japan, allowing users to use a Passbook card to add credit to an iTunes account from an Apple Retail Store. Starting today, the offer is also available in the United States and Australia. Users in Canada, Germany, and the UK are also reporting seeing the feature, though it’s not officially listed on Apple’s website for those countries just yet.
To take advantage of this new program, you need to use the iTunes Store app on an iOS device to obtain an iTunes Pass. You can get one of these by tapping the “Redeem” button at the bottom of the home page within the app. To use the card, you can visit an Apple Retail Store and ask a specialist to help you add credit to your account. The specialist can then scan the barcode on the Passbook card to immediately add credit to your account.
If one chart could show just how well-positioned Apple is to make a move into mobile payment, this tweet from Horace Dediu is it. iTunes has four times as many active accounts as Amazon – and since we know from Tim Cook that “the majority of those have credit cards behind them,” that means Apple has at least twice as many credit cards on file as the ecommerce giant.
There has been a little confusion around the numbers, with some sources suggesting Apple has four times as many credit cards on file as Amazon, based on a claim that “most” iTunes accounts have cards linked to them. But the actual phrase used by Cook was “the majority” – which could mean anything from 51 percent up.
Tim Cook as good as confirmed that mobile payment via Touch ID is on the way when he said in January that “it was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID” and “a big opportunity” for the company.
It has previously been reported that Apple plans to allow customers to purchase physical goods from other retailers through an iTunes account, just as can be done in Apple’s own retail stores using the Apple Store app. Just last week, Apple was said to be interviewing candidates from the payment services field.
Mobile payments company Square is teaming up with Bono’s Product RED organization for a special edition credit card reader that benefits charity. Square has become one of the leaders in processing credit card payments on mobile devices with a small credit card reader available for iPhone and iPad as well as point-of-sale software and hardware kits for merchants. The special SQUA(RED) Reader will be available for a $10 donation with 97.25% of the amount going directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Customers swiping their cards will also get the opportunity to donate through a link on their emailed receipts:
The impact doesn’t end there. When you swipe (RED), your customers can donate right from their emailed receipts to help deliver an AIDS FREE GENERATION. Every swipe can make a difference.
