“The Apple Watch may have gotten a lot of the focus in this week’s quarterly earnings call, but I was more excited by the few tidbits we got on one of my favorite features: Apple Pay,” Dan Moren writes for Macworld.
“I love Apple Pay,” Moren writes. “In particular, I end up using it at the grocery store and I’ve probably fielded more questions from the cashiers there than anyone else—particularly when I use the Apple Watch. Honestly, my only real complaint is that I wish Apple Pay were available in more places that I frequent. But I’m hoping that if the latest developments in the payment service are any indication, Apple Pay is still in its infancy, and has a long way to go.”
“Apple Pay couldn’t come at a better time, thanks to the imminent transition to more secure forms of payment, such as chip-based credit cards,” Moren writes. “Starting in mid-October, the liability for fraud on magnetic swipe transitions at most retail locations shifts from the card issuer to the retailer itself. That’s a big incentive for stores to switch to terminals that accept cards with embedded chips or NFC payments — such as Apple Pay.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Pet peeve: Sunlight is incompatible with scanners dangling out of Dunkin’ Donuts and other drive-thru windows trying to scan Apple Watches for QR codes. For Apple Pay, it’s also a messy system (wires not long enough on terminal, drivers having to stick their arms in the window, etcetera).
Standardized exterior readers, located outside the drive-thru windows, that are easy for driver to hold their wrist up to would be a Godsend for Apple Watch users of whom there will be many, many more. It’d be easier for iPhone users, too. Establishments with drive-thru windows: Make it easy for us to pay you, not a chore! (And please train your staff about these payment systems, too!)