“Amid all the products Apple introduced this fall, the most impactful might be one that isn’t a physical product at all: Apple Pay,” Walt Mossberg writes for Re/code. “It’s a service that allows you to load digital versions of your credit cards into Apple’s latest devices, and pay for goods with them wirelessly, using a short-range technology called NFC.”
“So, does it work? To find out, your four-person Re/code Reviews team spent most of the week doing the arduous work of shopping, on both coasts. We bought everything from electronics to food to makeup — with digital versions of our everyday credit cards stored on the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus,” Mossberg writes. “Our overall conclusion: Apple Pay worked smoothly and quickly in all but a very few instances. But the number of physical and online stores that accept it at launch is still very small. Plus, some common things slow it down, like the need for signatures and debit-card PINs in some stores, its lack of support for loyalty cards, and cashier confusion.”
MacDailyNews Take: One of our staffers made a purchase yesterday at a Walgreens and, when asked, the cashier thought Apple Pay was “coming soon.” Our staffer pointed to the payment terminal’s screen and the “Apple Pay” logo on it. When he put his iPhone 6 Plus up to the terminal, he was prompted for a Touch ID fingerprint, and the phone vibrated and confirmed payment, as did the cashier’s register display. The cashier told him, “Wow! That was easy. You’re the first one to ever use Apple Pay at this Walgreens.” So, yes, some cashiers still have yet to get the memo.
“My results: Apple Pay worked, easily and well, in all but one of the stores Apple said it would. Bonus: It also worked perfectly at one major store that Apple didn’t list as a partner: CVS,” Mossberg writes. “My sole failure was at Subway, the sandwich shop that Apple lists as a launch partner. Neither of the two branches I tried had the right kind of payment terminal needed for Apple Pay. A Subway spokesman said: ‘Apple Pay is available in 95 percent of our restaurants with the rest to follow shortly.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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