9 Industry Reactions to Apple Pay
Published September 22, 2014 10:28 AM
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Updated June 1, 2021 1:19 PM
1 Min Read
Apple Pay isn't yet on phones, but many companies in the financial services industry have already changed their strategies to respond to it. Some are on board with Apple's new mobile wallet, but others are firmly against it. (Image: Bloomberg News)
PayPal is perhaps the most clear in its reaction: it doesn't want people to trust Apple. PayPal's PR efforts include an ad in The New York Times meant to remind the world of the celebrity nude photo leak attributed to Apple's iCloud service. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Smaller financial institutions are concerned that Apple Pay will draw consumers away to the big banks and one giant CU that have partnered with Apple. "We had our members in mind when we integrated with Apple Pay to become one of the first financial institutions to offer this service ," said a Navy Federal spokesperson. So far, the $60 billion institution is the only credit union that has signed on.
The Merchant Customer Exchange mobile wallet's members are divided on Apple Pay. Target is all for it, but Walmart and Best Buy are not making any moves to enable Apple's mobile wallet in their stores. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Though the Near Field Communication hardware in the new iPhones is Apple Pay-only for now, the telco-driven Softcard mobile wallet (formerly Isis) is "actively working with Apple to enable Softcard on the iPhone in 2015."
The LevelUp mobile wallet seems to do a lot of what Apple Pay does, but the company sees Apple Pay as an enabler. It is deploying NFC scanners with its merchants and integrating its app with Apple's Passbook.
The card networks are using Apple's security message to promote their own technology efforts. Visa, for example, launched Visa Token Services the same day Apple unveiled its mobile wallet. "We viewed the Apple announcement as a coming out party for tokenization," said Visa's Matthew Dill. (Image: Bloomberg News)
A few days after Apple Pay's reveal, MasterCard issued a requirement that European merchants support "tap and pay" transactions by 2016. Though this move is not specifically tied to Apple Pay's launch, "the driving factor in all of this is the rise of mobile payments," MasterCard's Chris Kangas said.(Image: Bloomberg News)
Discover was conspicuously absent from Apple Pay's list of supported card networks, and Discover is working to remedy that. "We are in discussions with Apple to add Discover cards to Apple Pay," the company told customers over Twitter.(Image: Bloomberg News)
The companies that sell point of sale technology to smaller merchants see an opportunity in Apple Pay. "All of the small mom and pops don't have NFC yet, but the big retailers will have it," Revel's Chris Ciabarra said. The company is one of many that plans to offer Apple Pay support to its clients. Pictured: Revel's point of sale
