“Apple is preparing to announce details about enhancements to Apple Pay at its software conference next month,” Mike Isaac and Brian X. Chen report for The New York Times. “Those include a rewards program for the mobile wallet service, said two people briefed on the product.”
“Mobile payments are growing quickly. Forrester Research predicts they will balloon to $142 billion by 2019 in the United States, almost tripling from $52 billion in 2014,” Isaac and Chen report. “Awareness of mobile payments has been stoked by Apple Pay, which Apple introduced last October. Apple has partnerships with dozens of American banks, allowing Apple Pay to work with most major credit cards. Some retailers, like Walgreens and Whole Foods, have said mobile wallet payments in their stores have grown significantly since the debut of Apple Pay.”
“But analysts have noted that a missing piece from Apple Pay was a rewards program to keep users returning to participating merchants,” Isaac and Chen report. “People familiar with Apple Pay said that next month, Apple will announce such a program offering perks to consumers who make purchases with the service, though they declined to reveal details.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Throwing gasoline on the Apple Pay fire will only help to further accelerate iPhone and Apple Watch sales.
We’re looking forward to some nice Apple Pay perks and rewards!
I love using ApplePay but they need to do a better job of showing where it is accepted – I go up to the pay spot at a store and there is a Visa and MasterCard and Amex sign but no ApplePay? I don’t want to look like a fool trying to pay with my Phone or Watch then have to pull my card out.. Please get the signs out there!!!! It is so easy.
This will be coming at the end of the year. We are waiting for new credit card terminals that accept Apple Pay for the company that I work for. For all merchants this is part of the credit card liability changes that are coming in October. Most merchants will be upgrading their equipment and most equipment will accept Apple Pay and Google whatever.
I had to install the signage myself at a local restaurant where even the owner didn’t know they could take Pay with their new Bank of America NFC terminals. You can order signage kits for free from Apple’s Pay marketing department 800.854.3680
I told the owner to order the kits and he said he would but after waiting two more weeks after I made him get his staff trained in taking Pay he still hadn’t installed anything so I did it myself. Sticker on the terminal, sign at the counter and sign on the door above the other vertical list of credit cards accepted.👀😱💥😜
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/185371/apples-new-apple-pay-acceptance-decal-kits-raise-customer-awareness-at-participating-merchants/0_100
You can email order 3 kits FREE by selecting the Apple WEBSITE link in this article. Then fill out the order form. They sent me 5 kits FREE. Or phone the above number for more. Or tell your merchant to call the above number.
I use Apple Pay every chance I get. I ask, every retailer, do you take Apple Pay?
This rewards program is just icing on the cake… Yum Yum…
If you ask they usually have no idea then all the people in line behind you get pissed saying just pay with your card.. Frustrating as I really want to just use ApplePay with no hassles then just get out of the store much faster….
It’s not a drawn out conversation. It’s yes/no, then swipe my card. Not more than 10 seconds at most, to get that part over with.
Yes but many DO take Pay but don’t know it nor how to accept it.😖
Even if the retailer is actually clueless, it is always worth a try. Even if their answer is “No, I don’t think we take ApplePay”, you can still ask them to try, if you clearly see a NFC wireless terminal (they usually have the NFC wireless payment logo on them). All you need to do is get your iPhone ready for the ApplePay transaction and try tapping the device when the cashier gets it ready to accept your payment. If nothing happens, ask them to activate the wireless payment mode (they might understand, if they have ever been trained for that Google Wallet thing). If nothing works, pay the old-fashioned way (by giving them cash)…
But you look like an idiot having the terminal beep like it worked only to have it actually not work and have to pull the card out – There are may places that have the wireless symbol which should take it and it acts like it works only to not work and have to pull out the card – Kind of embarrassing like having a card not work and go through 3 cards or so – just label it!
There is nothing embarrassing about trying to pay with something and then finding out they don’t accept it. Many times business don’t accept Discover, or American Express (my two payment methods of choice). Often they don’t even look at the card and just take it and swipe, only to find out it won’t work when terminal spits an error message. It is not like your card was declined (and they were asked to confiscate and cut it up)…
Ask to talk to the owner or ask for his phone number. I even had to call Bank of America Merchant Services to find out if my local restaurant could take Pay. Then call the owner to tell him they do. Then get him to meet with bank employees who didn’t tell him about Pay because “they thought it was no big deal.” Then wound up placing all the signage myself from signage kits I ordered for free from Apple. See above for how.😱😖👀😰😜
I just want to get out of the store not cause a scene saying may I speak to the manager – I would rather just pull out my card. I can’t wait for more education and signage.
I love causing a scene to get them to become Pay aware!💥😱👀😩😃😜
+1
Feel the same way. The cashiers aren’t tech savy enough to know either. At wholes foods, I must have been the first to use it, the cashier was astonished.
Wait until you use your watch to pay, then see the look on their face!
I have and the look is priceless!
I used my Apple Watch yesterday at the Apple Store. Unfortunately my son cracked the screen on his iPhone 5s. But, with Apple Care it only cost $79 versus $128 more with no Apple Care.
It is a bit frustrating that even with the few retailers that are currently accepting, we’re now six months after the release of ApplePay (and compatible phones), the drones at the cash registers are still clueless about ApplePay. Estimates vary, but generally agree that there are over 100 million iPhones 6 / 6+ out there, nearly half of them in the US. Over the past six months, large percentage of these people likely registered a card with ApplePay and tried the service.
Something clearly isn’t right, when there is such prevalence of ignorance among retailers. ApplePay has the potential to completely revolutionise point-of-sale process, and more importantly, to radically reduce annual fraud write-offs by banks. This cannot happen unless those retailers not only know what ApplePay is, but actively promote it. They likely would, if they knew what it could do for them.
ApplePay clearly needs radically different marketing campaign from Apple’s usual efforts for other devices.
I’m afraid you’re off on the number of iPhone 6/plus owners who have setup their Pay credit cards. The research says only 6% of us have set it up and 85% of those forgot how to use it and gave up trying. I see iPhone 6 in the field all the time and ask if they are using Pay and they look at me like I’m from Mars.😖 Unfortunately it’s not commonly setup and used by iPhone 6 and WATCH owners at all. Really bums me out.😱😰😂😩😤
Please take a look at Predrag’s post above. Notice how it looks professional and worthy of being read? That is because he uses text to say what he needs to say. Try to get over your fascination with emoticons. It makes you look like a kid with a new cell phone.
Research says that people who use emojis have more sex than those who don’t. I am a bit skeptical about the notion that correlation here would imply causation, but data is out there…
The data doesn’t make it clear but it think it means sex for one.
That’s because I am. 💥😱🎉😜😰😩😵🚀🎈😨😀
You’re right regarding the percentage of iPhone 6 / 6+ owners using ApplePay. Which makes my point regarding the need for an aggressive promotional campaign even more valid, I’d think…
I totally agree. The banks are doing a lousy job of making sure the merchants have signage installed and checkers trained. Owner of local restaurant told me his bank rep told him he didn’t mention Apple Pay because “he didn’t think it was that big a deal”.
Gee, more first world problems. Canada seems like a back water ghetto because our banks can’t get it together and agree to use Apple Pay.