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Walmart and Best Buy Opt Out of 'Apple Pay' as Apple Leverages Required Point-of-Sale Upgrades

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,557
30,887



apple_watch_apple_pay-250x176.jpg
At its "Apple Pay" introduction earlier this week, Apple outlined a host of partners for the mobile payments initiative, ranging from credit card companies to the banks that issue the cards to retailers representing over 220,000 retail locations in the United States. Questions have remained, however, about how willing other retailers will be to sign on to the program and how quickly those that do will be able to get up and running.

In the wake of Apple's announcement, several major retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy were in fact quick to state that they do not plan to support Apple Pay, as noted by The Wall Street Journal
Best Buy and Wal-Mart are instead backing a retailer-owned mobile technology group called Merchant Customer Exchange, which also counts Target Corp. among its members.

MCX's payment service requires only a software download and can be used on existing iPhones and Android devices, whereas Apple's is only for the latest generation handset.
Click to expand...
For those retailers considering joining Apple Pay, however, it appears that Apple has timed its rollout perfectly. As highlighted by Pando Daily, Apple is taking advantage of regulatory changes that essentially require merchants to deploy new payment hardware in their retail stores over the coming year. This mass upgrade by over nine million merchants is the result of an updated credit card liability policy adopted by major credit card companies.
As of October 2015, any merchants that do not support EMV credit cards - smart cards with integrated circuits that enable point of sale authentication and help prevent fraud - will be liable for the fraudulent use of counterfeit, lost, and stolen cards. [...]

These EMV cards and the resulting transactions are far more difficult to counterfeit than what Americans consider "standard" credit cards. While EMV is the norm around the world, only about 14 percent of US merchants support this technology today and very few consumers own credit cards incorporating these chips.
Click to expand...
As a result of this change in credit card liability, merchants are upgrading their payment processing hardware to support EMV credit cards and other payment technology. With Apple now on board with NFC, a greater number of merchants who are in the middle of this decision-making process may choose NFC-capable POS hardware so they can process payments via Apple Pay.

Apple's new Apple Pay service takes advantage of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, stored credit cards, and a secure NFC connection to authorize payments at retailers' physical stores and in compatible apps. Both the iPhone 6 handset lineup and the Apple Watch will support the wireless payment method.

Article Link: Walmart and Best Buy Opt Out of 'Apple Pay' as Apple Leverages Required Point-of-Sale Upgrades
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/12/apple-pay-walmart-best-buy-pos-upgrades/
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,153
For the 2 times I go to Walmart each year and the 5 times I go to Best Buy, I think I'll live.
 
applesith

applesith

macrumors 68030
Jun 11, 2007
2,778
1,574
Manhattan
Good luck with that!

Merchant Customer Exchange sounds old and ugly. No one has time for stupid names like that.
 
TimUSCA

TimUSCA

macrumors 6502a
Mar 17, 2006
701
1,539
Aiken, SC
I don't shop at either one, so oh well. Target is a bigger concern for me since the article said they belong to the same group, but I guess time will tell. And no, that wasn't a pun.
 
H

HenryDJP

Suspended
Nov 25, 2012
5,084
843
United States
Offering Apple Pay is the least Walmart can do for their customers seeing as they make billions every year. No problem, Walmart just wants to retain their low-end status. I thought they were trying to become better. Guess not.
 
M

monaarts

macrumors 65816
Jan 16, 2010
1,168
51
Kennesaw, GA
My guess is once they see how successful :apple: Pay is elsewhere they will reverse this decision. I know if I only had my iPhone on me and needed to stop to get some toilet paper, pens, and carrots I would go to Target because they accept :apple: Pay - meaning lost wallet share for Walmart.
 
AngerDanger

AngerDanger

Graphics
Staff member
Dec 9, 2008
5,452
29,003
Here's to hoping that all of the other affiliates opt out before Pay goes live. That would really simplify, distill, and streamline the whole conversion to Pay process. Just imagine…

smqu0xn.png
 
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tigertazz

tigertazz

macrumors 6502
May 4, 2009
297
356
As long as other retailers sign up to apple pay Walmart and best buy may change their stance.

But if it is just a software download there's nothing stopping iOS 8.1 or 9 supporting it.
 
N

NachoGrande

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2010
986
1,714
Best Buy is teetering on the edge of extinction you'd figure they'd do everything they can to make their costumers er... customer happy...:rolleyes:
 
Patriot24

Patriot24

macrumors 68030
Dec 29, 2010
2,813
805
California
If Walmart, Best Buy, and the rest of these clowns have not reversed course by the next big product launch, Apple should simply allocate no stock for them and say, "When you have implemented :apple:Pay, we'll stock your warehouses/stores." That conversation would be over fairly quickly.
 
happydude

happydude

macrumors 65816
Sep 2, 2006
1,197
795
a gasping dying planet
i'd guess they'll eventually come around. when 50 million people are trying to pay with their phones and/or watches, at some point some exec will change directions.

in any case, i'm glad the US is finally getting mobile payment options main stream.
 
HiRez

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,250
2,576
Western US
MCX's payment service requires only a software download
Click to expand...

I don't think they realize quite how big of a barrier that is for many people. Especially if Apple Pay is working at lots of other places and they already can use that on their phone without a download. Plus, it's not just a download, you'll also have to create yet another account, with another password, sign in, etc.
 
OafTobark

OafTobark

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2011
349
94
Man, Apple always seems to be a lot smarter than we think they are. What timing!

WalMart/Bestbuy.. their loss.
 
SandboxGeneral

SandboxGeneral

Moderator emeritus
Sep 8, 2010
26,482
10,051
Detroit
Wow, that is going to be a loss for the retailers over time, I think, if they don't ever make the change. At the rate the new iPhone is selling, they're potentially missing out on millions of transactions where people might go to another retailer who does support the new service.

I'm very surprised at Best Buy being a technology retailer and reseller of Apple products to not be on board with this. For shame.
 
M

moderngamenewb

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2011
441
63
I think one of the places I'll use apple pay the most (once I upgrade to 6Plus2 next year), is Starbucks. Often people order their drink and when they pay in cash, often take a while getting it.

Apple Pay will, hopefully, make the line go quicker, as long as their battery doesn't die and they have to plug it in for it to work:D
 
I

isepic

macrumors member
May 10, 2008
38
11
Chip and Pin

Walmart and Sam's Club started their new "chip and pin" system just recently --- every-single-time it is used, takes FOREVER, plus, they don't even enter in a pin, just push the card in, 3-4 times later it finally reads it, goes though the slow process of authentication, then asks if you want cash back, then another slow process to finish. Mean while if you had stripe, you'd be done in 30 seconds, Apple Pay, 5 seconds if you have a clean finger :)
 
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