“When Apple announced it was jumping into the mobile-payments universe with Apple Pay last week, many wondered how that would affect PayPal…. [which] was notable in its absence,” Mark Rogowsky writes for Forbes. “It’s clear that PayPal felt threatened. The result? A downright bizarre full-page newspaper ad suggesting — indirectly — that Apple’s payment system would be as insecure as those celebrity photos stored in iCloud. Venture capitalist Keith Rabois, who was a key member of the PayPal team back in the day, tweeted: ‘Dumbest ad campaign ever?'”
“PayPal’s biggest mistake was actually calling into question the security of mobile payments. ‘We the people / Want our money / Safer than our selfies’ is followed in relatively tiny type by ‘Paypal protecting the people economy.’ I haven’t a clue what the ‘people economy’ is, but I’m now of the opinion that PayPal believes that things in the cloud are inherently insecure and I should be afraid of trusting them,” Rogowsky writes. “That makes me nervous since PayPal has several of my credit card numbers as well as a bank account number, too. (I disconnected my primary bank account from PayPal years ago and only have a small credit-union one linked, because, well, I don’t trust PayPal.)”
“It’s not a leap to claim [Apple Pay’s] end-to-end system of masked numbers, a device you control and the need for a fingerprint represents perhaps the single-most secure method yet devised to secure payments for ordinary humans. That PayPal executives actually believe otherwise is unlikely,” Rogowsky writes. “Rabois closed with: “PayPal ad campaign: We will terrify those users into staying with us for another decade.” Of course, that’s hardly a path to success.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: PayPal knows that phished passwords – poor, too-easily-guessed passwords – from celebrity accounts have absolutely nothing to do with Apple Pay, but, obviously, PayPal thinks their customers are stupid enough to believe their lies. Is that a company you want handling your money?
Obviously, as future Apple roadkill, PayPal is scared, worried, and defensive – and rightfully so. Regardless, PayPal shouldn’t let their fear cause them to stoop to outright lies. At least die a dignified death, PayPal.
Oh, yes, we do love the smell of fear in the morning!
For references, here’s PayPal’s “We reek of Apple Pay fear” print advertisement:
Related articles:
Frightened PayPal slams Apple Pay in full-page newspaper ads – September 15, 2014