This is part 2 of a 3 part series. You can find part 1 here.
With the release of Apple’s iOS9 this fall, Apple’s Passbook app transforms into the Wallet. At the Worldwide Developers Conference, held in San Francisco in June, Apple announced three key updates to the Wallet experience:
- Support for Loyalty and Private Label Cards
- New Apple Pay Partners
- Apple Pay’s Expansion into the UKThis series examines how each of these announcements affects both Apple and the mobile payments landscape. Part 1 discussed support for loyalty and private label cards. Today, we’ll look at Apple Pay’s new partners.
The adoption of a mobile payment system is dependent on the merchants and consumers. On the consumer front, Apple Pay will soon be compatible with Discover, finally allowing Apple Pay to facilitate transactions across all major card networks, accounting for about 98% of US card purchase volume. The addition of Discover and its issuing banks provides Apple Pay with exposure to a considerable number of consumers that previously would not have had the opportunity to pay with their Apple devices.
From a merchant standpoint, Apple has announced the expansion of their Apple Pay portfolio will include Delta Airlines, Dunkin’ Donuts, Gilt, HauteLook, Kickstarter, Munchery, Nordstrom Rack, Zulily, and Best Buy; the latter of which has committed to accepting Apple Pay in stores despite their prior commitment to partner with MCX exclusively.
In the eCommerce front, Pinterest’s new Buyable Pins will allow purchase from thousands of retailers on the iOS Pinterest app. Apple also announced that they plan to work with Square to allow their merchants to accept payments via Apple Pay sometime in 2015.
Of course, most consumers do not have an Apple Pay-enabled device as of the writing of this article. Though said consumers may be loyal patrons of Apple Pay’s newly announced partners, they still won’t have the ability to transact through Apple Pay. On the merchant side, a majority of US payment terminals still will not be Apple Pay compatible. Still, the announcement of these partnerships can only serve to aid the adoption of Apple Pay.
Adoption, we have learned, will not happen overnight. It is a long and continuous process, and thus far Apple has taken the right steps to ensure that adoption continues.