Taking a leap into the future

Cash, credit card or apple pay, are you ready to ditch your wallet?

appley pay intoApple Inc. Reveals Bigger-Screen iPhones Alongside Wearables

When CEO Tim Cook announced Apple’s digital wallet method in early September he didn’t go into great detail about the security aspects of Apple Pay. Although a lot of people may be hesitate on using Apple Pay it turns out Apple Pay is safer to use than ordinary credit cards.

This is how it works, it lets you use and store your credit cards just by scanning your phone. The technology that sends the payment from your phone to the register is called NFC (near field communication) it’s basically an antenna inside your phone that delivers short encrypted radio waves with your payment data.  NFC has been around for a while it has been used in Google Wallet, PayPal, and Pay Express.

It’s a lot harder to steal data from NFC because your phone doesn’t give up your credit card number; instead it uses a one-time use code that gets approved by the bank for every transaction. Even if hackers managed to hack their way into a store and grab this payment data its useless to them because a code can only be used once, plus even if someone where to steal your phone you can actually wipe all the credit cards remotely.

apple pay

Unfortunately not all stores that once accepted mobile payments options are accepting Apple Pay. Stores like CVS and Rite Aid have stopped accepting Apple Pay for two reasons.

  1. The first being is that they developed their own payment method called CurrentC, it’s designed to one day let you pay at the register without using your credit card. Wal-Mart led the effort to CurrentC along with Target, Bed Bath& Beyond, Dunkin Donuts, Gap, Sears, Shell, Wendy’s and many more have joined it. It’s really no surprise that none of these stores are accepting Apple Pay.
  2. These stores feel that Apple Pay is giving more power to credit card companies. Every time you swipe your card, retailers have to pay the credit card companies between 1.3 to 3 percent of every transaction. Apple Pay relies on credit card networks so if Apple Pay grows, it would allow Visa and MasterCard to get stronger and the fees would stick around.

Questions:

  1. Do you think people will find it difficult to put trust in Apple, after the continuous iCloud hacks that have been going on with celebrities?
  2. Why do you think retailers are so afraid of Apple Pay?
  3. Do you think it’s okay for stores like CVS and Rite Aid to deny the use of Apple Pay even though these companies can handle the tap to pay technology?

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/totalreturn/2014/11/04/why-some-merchants-say-no-to-apple-pay/

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/27/technology/security/apple-pay-cvs-rite-aid/index.html?iid=SF_T_River

4 thoughts on “Taking a leap into the future

  1. I am huge fan of Apple products and their new addition to iPhones- Apple Pay. I like consolidating as much as I can into my phone, so I am all for the addition of Apple Pay to the iPhone. I use the Venmo App all the time to exchange payments between my friends and never had a problem, so I definitely trust the seemingly similar Apple Pay. I think it is a shame that Apple and the retailers you mentioned in your post can’t collaborate and find a way to make Apple Pay universal. Despite the alleged iCloud hacks, I still trust Apple and believe most people will as well. Apple Pay hit the scene without relatively quickly with little heads up, so I think over time more, they will gain more credit and more retailers will be willing to adopt Apple Pay at checkout. I think retailers like CVS and Rite Aid have every right to deny the use of Apple Pay, so long as the stockholders continue to support the decision to do so. I look forward to seeing how the controversy plays out and will definitely continue to follow any progress. Thanks for a great post!

  2. Great post Karla! I don’t think that people will find it difficult to start using Apple Pay because our generation is one that does not like to carry cash. Using this technology will allow people to not even have to worry about carrying cards. I think people will initially be skeptical about using it due to the recent hacks on iCloud, but people also forget really quickly. I believe that retailers do not want to use the type of payment because of the fees associated with credit cards and I think they do have right to refuse it. Just like some stores refuse to accept some credit cards at their establishments, they can refuse Apple Pay. It is about what the company deems appropriate for the operation of their business.

  3. Interesting post! I think that Apple is continuously bringing new ideas and products into the market–Apple Pay is not exception. I feel like our generation is so used to new inventions being created that they will not have a hard time adjusting to this. In addition, as mentioned previously, I feel like we are looking for easier and more convenient ways to pay for things and not carrying cash is ideal. I think it is going to take a little bit for Apple Pay to be accepted and used by people, but it will be popular nonetheless.

  4. I found your post very interesting! I believe that if customers find value and convenience in Apple Pay, it will surely become popular among users; if it becomes popular then all the big chain stores will pick it up as well. With that said, I can also see why some store and users might be against the app considering the recent iCloud hack, but that doesn’t mean it will happen with the app. I remember Target being hacked last year as well, with millions of credit cards stolen, but people still shop there. I’m happy to see Apple explore and try new things.

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