9 Industry Reactions to Apple Pay

Published September 19, 2014 2:50 PM

|

Updated October 20, 2016 10:03 AM

1 Min Read

Customers wait in line behind an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 Plus on display at SoftBank Corp.'s Omotesando store during the sales launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. Apple stores attracted long lines of shoppers for the debut of the latest iPhones, indicating healthy demand for the bigger-screen smartphones. Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg

Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg

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

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)

Banks

Smaller banks are concerned that Apple Pay will draw their customers away to its big-bank partners. "It's just another level of pressure for those of us who are still trying to serve our market," said Bob Steen, the CEO of Bridge Community Bank, an $80 million-asset institution in Mount Vernon, Iowa. (Image: ShutterStock)

Rain falls on the Target Corp. logo displayed outside of a store in Peru, Illinois, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. Target Corp. led U.S. retailers to the biggest monthly same-store sales gain in more than a year as shoppers snapped up discounted merchandise chains were clearing out after the holidays. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

MCX (Retailers)

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)

Softcard

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."

LevelUp

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.

Visa and MasterCard credit cards are arranged for a photo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, May 21, 2009. Canada will introduce new disclosure and grace-period requirements for credit card issuers, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said today, as pressure mounts on the government to bolster oversight of the industry. Photographer: Norm Betts/Bloomberg News

NORM BETTS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Visa

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 Mastercard Inc. logo sits on a credit card in this arranged photograph in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. stopped processing cards for Bank Rossiya after the U.S. placed the lender on its sanctions list. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

MasterCard

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)

A Discover Financial Services credit card is arranged for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 23, 2011. Discover Financial Services reported a second-quarter profit of $1.09 a share, on a tax benefit. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Discover

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)

Acquirers and Point of Sale Vendors

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