McDonald's in Bishop Auckland (England) has an Apple Pay sticker in the drive-thru payment window today...
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Banks in the U.K. Gearing Up for Apple Pay Launch as Santander Allows Customers to Register Cards
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I was speaking to a lady at RBS the other day and she said that they have been told to tell everyone to upgrade to iOS 8.4, there is a switch on at Apple's end that then will allow Apple to be switched on remotely.
There are still a few valid reasons to use Oyster. Monthly or Annual travel cards work out cheaper than weekly, and are onl available on Oyster. And even 7-day travel cards can work out cheaper on Oyster if you're not buying them on a Monday-to-Sunday schedule.
And anyone who gets child, student, or other types of discounted travel still uses Oyster because contactless can only be used for full Adult fares.
Oh, we have retailers like that in the UK, too. Like Sainsbury's - who've have contactless-capable terminals in their stores for a couple of years, but can't be bothered to enable them, despite virtually all of their competitors accepting contactless cards now.
Either they're technologically inept or there's something sinister going on - probably a combination of the two.
When I spoke to a manager in Sainsbury's he said there old POS software was the main reason and that when all the stores are upgraded with the new one, they should be able to turn it on.
Sainsbury's have a lot of card readers that can use NFC, however the software on the tills is not comparable. New software is being rolled out in their smaller stores, then next year they will be rolled out in their bigger stores. Once this is complete NFC will be enabled.
But aren't Sainsburys using more-or-less the same NCR check-out software that Tesco and M&S have? Both of which accept contactless! It seems to me that this should be a rather simple upgrade, not something that should take years!
I'd imagine upper management met and they came to the conclusion the general public is not ready for NFC payments in their stores yet as they likely concluded we are stupid.
Sounds more like they're wary of big software upgrades to payment terminals.
After such updates were compromised in the US and resulted in the loss of millions of account numbers, perhaps they're spending a lot of time on security checks.
The POS system update was supposed to be released last year, however in the trial period too many bugs were found and it was found that some stores would have difficulty downloading the software.
They are usually behind on technology, but this time they were trying to have an earlier release.
They are usually behind on technology, but this time they were trying to have an earlier release.
We have them pretty much for signature capture because we refuse to do PIN in any significant capacity. It seems like way more expense than they're worth for other countries.
I spoke with Capital One in the UK.. seems they don't have plans to support Apple Pay, as they are coming out with their own system (I guess along the same lines as Barclays bizarre NFC sticker, KeyFob or Wristband, which they charge you for!)... so if you have a UK capital one account, don't hold your breath for ApplePay... you wont be getting it (even though the US devision implemented it!!)
Was hoping we'd see an official announcement from Apple today confirming the launch date with some more advertising from the banks about the date over the weekend.
Think we may instead see an announcement Monday if we're lucky or most likely on go live in Tuesday (still hope it is Tuesday!)
Think we may instead see an announcement Monday if we're lucky or most likely on go live in Tuesday (still hope it is Tuesday!)
Personally I think Apple will enable it at Midnight so people can start adding their qualifying credit/debit cards to allow people to use it for the first time Tuesday morning and also take pressure off the banking network. If Apple announced a 4PM activation time etc I think it'd crash under the pressure.
You only have to look at the recent IT woes from the RBS Group to see it wouldn't make sense!
Most banks go live with their IT projects very early in the morning when fewer people are using their systems so would expect it there first thing in the morning.
don't worry macdonalds is open late, opens early and possibly 24hrs in most places
Only MBNA that I'm connected with have said they'll be adopting ApplePay so I'm not going to be caring either way. One bank is Barclays who seem to be dragging their heels and the other bank only got an app last year so I think ApplePay might beyond their capabilities. Oh well.
TSB is now part of the Spanish bank Sabadell.
Further to the other responses regarding Sainsbury's it's also worth noting that they are backing Zapp.
don't worry macdonalds is open late, opens early and possibly 24hrs in most places
I've got a 24 hour one about 2 minutes walk away. Guess where I'm going first...
I've got a 24 hour one about 2 minutes walk away. Guess where I'm going first...
Snap. Lots of tubby Apple fans incoming..
On a serious note, really hope we see and Apple announcement tomorrow confirming a Tuesday launch date otherwise I'm not sure it'll be coming.