Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
How am I supposed to know what stores accept Apple Pay?
- Thread starter mactumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I might be going out on a limb here, but "partnering" with Apple isn't necessarily required for them to accept NFC payments from an iPhone. Maybe that just means they'll be prominently displaying the Apple logo on their payment terminals.
I probably just don't understand the technology well enough, but what part would the retailer or play or what would they need to do differently to accept an Apple Pay payment than any other NFC payment? Or any other payment for that matter? As long as the banks and credit cards are playing along, anyway.
NFC is just the techonology used to allow an iPhone and machine to talk to each other.
There are a lot of software and protocols behind that technology to make them understand each other. Apple have implemented a lot of security features into Apple Pay.
Apple has probably done what it always does, and make it proprietary to themselves.
I think you are mistaken. It seems that by "partnering" with Apple, those 18 stores are just committing to add NFC terminals chain wide. There are stores that already have NFC terminals and Apple Pay should work anywhere you see the NFC symbol.
If people are rolling their eyes or snickering as you tap your phone on the pad for 5 seconds then that store takes ApplePay.
If people are rolling their eyes or snickering as you tap your phone on the pad for 30 seconds then that store doesn't take ApplePay.
If people are rolling their eyes or snickering as you tap your phone on the pad for 30 seconds then that store doesn't take ApplePay.
Just listened to the keynote again. He clearly says:
"You can use Apple Pay in the over 220,000 merchants that accept contactless payments today. But we've been working with some of the top retailers to enable Apple Pay in their stores"
So to me, the will will work with any other NFC terminal. It's partners are just committed to adding NFC to all of their stores for Apple Pay.
"You can use Apple Pay in the over 220,000 merchants that accept contactless payments today. But we've been working with some of the top retailers to enable Apple Pay in their stores"
So to me, the will will work with any other NFC terminal. It's partners are just committed to adding NFC to all of their stores for Apple Pay.
Which is awesome, because we all know that QR codes cannot be read at distance or from a surreptitiously obtained photo from over a shoulder...
You might as well hold up a huge sign with your credit card details for all to see.
I've said it before, but to me, Apple Pay is exciting because of the inherent security it brings to the table that will thwart breaches of the sort that impacted Home Depot and Target, and Apple has the clout, user base, and partnering savvy to make it viable. The convenience is a mere secondary benefit.
Bottom line: Your bank has to support the transaction (which is mostly the back-end changes to accommodate linking the Device Account Number to the credit card account number and to process the one-time use code (which takes the place of the CVV) and the merchant both has to have a compatible NFC terminal with the NFC features enabled for it to work.
What I am not clear on is how a merchant that has a compatible terminal with NFC payments enabled would NOT be completely compatible with Apple Pay - really, it should look like any other NFC payment - but since Apple has said that certain merchants would be participating, there is likely some other factor that I am unaware of. The other possibility is that Apple only announced the merchants that inked some sort of strategic partnership with them. Time will tell.
----------
OK, this makes sense to me. Hopefully this is the actual truth.
How am I supposed to know what stores accept Apple Pay?
Apole is following the March2014 NFC EMVco tokenization standard.
Apole is following the March2014 NFC EMVco tokenization standard.
?
Yes, NFC is NFC.
ApplePay is just a different way of handling your CC info, it still transmits the information to the terminal via NFC.
As long as your CC type(Visa,MasterCard, AE) is accepted by that retailer you can use it.
The mods are getting crazy!
And I was wrong. Got the number wrong.
"You can use Apple Pay in the over 220,000 merchant locations that accept contactless payments today. But we've been working with some of the largest retailers to enable Apple Pay in all of they're locations today."
-direct quote from Eddy Cue
Translation: You can use Apple Pay anywhere that there is an NFC card reader, but Apple worked with 18 retailers on a large scale to enable it in every single one of their stores.
----------
Beat me to it, haha
Last edited:
Can you give me some examples where Google Wallet did not work with the NFC terminal? I've found that either the NFC terminal is on or off, and it's not related to google wallet. I've been able to verify this because when my Nexus 5 isn't being picked up by the terminal, I'll whip out my PNC debit card (which is contactless) and it still won't work.
As others have said, this whole contact-less payment method is still in relative infancy when it comes to the masses actually using it. A lot of the stores near me have justgotten chip & pin and NFC terminals, but lots are not turned on yet. I'm thankful Apple has implemented NFC, because I'm fairly certain they are influential enough to turn the tide.
As an aside, I think tap to pay using a phone is awesome. I'll never forget the first time I used my Nexus to get on the subway; other people behind me in the turnstile line looked at me like I was some sort of wizard!
And all this confusion is why LevelUp idea and execution is so much better. Because once a business accepts LevepUp, it doesn't matter if you are paying with Visa, Master or Amex. All cars are accepted by default. Now if LeveUp hurries up with their nfc terminals, that would be nice.
If Apple is saying we just need to look for the NFC logo, I believe them. If it doesn't work, it's going to be because the retailer disabled NFC (my local home depot does this).
After having looked at Apple's documentarion I have to agree. I think you have it right.
Well I work for walmart and it just might be ironic or a coincidence to me but we got in all new debit readers that have cardless payment options. And all the registers are getting updated so I wonder if this is part of it
As discussed earlier in the thread, Wal-Mart is going with a competing standard for contactless payments, so those new terminals are likely for that.
You'll know it when you see a long line at the cashier - someone's battery died and they didn't bring credit card or cash.
Find the cutest cashier in each place and ask her.
Or look for the symbol.
Because that will surely impress her.
Pay.I think those of you making the claim that it'll only work with the specific Apple Pay partners need to back that up with some actual evidence. We have the following that shows otherwise:
1. The Apple Pay page that says to look for any NFC logo. Nowhere does it say to look for an Apple Pay specific logo. https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/apple-pay/
2. The statement from the keynote that specifically said it can be used at any existing vendor that accepts contactless payments.
All of the NFC readers around today use a very specific protocol spec to access credit card data, and I highly doubt they'll all be running custom software to support Apple Pay. From the Apple Pay spec it appears to send you a token that is what looks like a valid credit card number but is good for one use only. The rest happens on the bank's end. The bank pays the fees to Apple, not the retailer.
So, if you use a bank that doesn't support Apple Pay, you may not be able to use it at all. But if your bank supports it, you should be able to add a card and use it at any NFC terminal that has NFC enabled. Note that not all stores with NFC POS systems actually the NFC radios enabled.
1. The Apple Pay page that says to look for any NFC logo. Nowhere does it say to look for an Apple Pay specific logo. https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/apple-pay/
2. The statement from the keynote that specifically said it can be used at any existing vendor that accepts contactless payments.
All of the NFC readers around today use a very specific protocol spec to access credit card data, and I highly doubt they'll all be running custom software to support Apple Pay. From the Apple Pay spec it appears to send you a token that is what looks like a valid credit card number but is good for one use only. The rest happens on the bank's end. The bank pays the fees to Apple, not the retailer.
So, if you use a bank that doesn't support Apple Pay, you may not be able to use it at all. But if your bank supports it, you should be able to add a card and use it at any NFC terminal that has NFC enabled. Note that not all stores with NFC POS systems actually the NFC radios enabled.
What part of this is on the bank? If you have a credit card, does that company have to participate? Or a debit card, does your bank have to participate? Seems like I saw more things saying this or that bank is participating than retailers.
Also, the way Apple works(not complaining) you'd think some of these big places that are saying there not going to accept Apple Pay(Walmart, Best Buy) would get pressured into by Apple. They could easy hold back product or something to get a place to accept I would think.
Also, the way Apple works(not complaining) you'd think some of these big places that are saying there not going to accept Apple Pay(Walmart, Best Buy) would get pressured into by Apple. They could easy hold back product or something to get a place to accept I would think.