JCPenney Removes Apple Pay Support From Its Retail Stores and Mobile App [Updated]

[MacRumors]

American department store JCPenney has quietly removed support for Apple Pay from its retail stores, it has emerged.

The withdrawal of support for Apple's digital payment system was confirmed on Saturday by the company's customer service Twitter account in response to a query, but offered no reason for its decision.

JCPenney made the decision to remove Apple Pay for our stores, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will definitely forward your feedback regarding this for review. - Ask JCPenney (@askjcp) April 20, 2019

The option to use Apple Pay at checkout in the JCPenney iOS app has also been removed, reports Appleosophy, catching many mobile shoppers off guard.

The retailer began trialing Apple Pay in late 2015, before rolling it out to all of its stores across the United States and adding support for the payment method to its app for iPhone and iPad shortly after.

JCPenney also made its credit card available on Apple Pay, enabling customers to earn shopping points through its JCPenney Rewards loyalty program, directly in the Wallet app on iPhone.

Assuming JCPenney still takes NFC contactless payments, it's unclear whether the company has switched merchant account providers to one that doesn't support Apple Pay, or has simply disabled support for Apple's digital wallet at its transaction terminals. We've contacted JCPenney for more information on their reasoning behind the decision and will update this article if we learn more.

Update: In a statement to TechCrunch, JCPenney says that it stopped supporting Apple Pay and other contactless payments because of an April 13 deadline from Visa for retiring legacy magnetic stripe (MSD) contactless technology in favor of more secure EMV technology.

A third-party credit card brand made the requirement for all merchants to actively support EMV contactless functionality effective April 13, retiring the legacy MSD contactless technology in place. Given the resources and lead time associated with meeting the new mandate, JCPenney chose to suspend all contactless payment options until a later date. Customers still have the ability to complete their transactions manually by inserting or swiping their physical credit cards at our point-of-sale terminals in stores, an option employed by the vast majority of JCPenney shoppers.

Rather than upgrading its technology, JCPenney opted to discontinue contactless payment support, at least for the time being.

Article Link: JCPenney Removes Apple Pay Support From Its Retail Stores and Mobile App [Updated]

 

[kriebe]

And Apple is really worried about losing a company that doesn't look like it's going to make it much longer anyway.

 

[btrach144]

They’ll be closed within 24 months. This just removes the younger crowd even further.

 

[kis]

My best guess: Apple was trying to hike fees and milk them some more - and since JCP are already not doing great, they had to call it quits.

 

[martyjmclean]

How can a store remove Apple Pay? It’s the same contactless tech we’ve been using for 15 yrs?

 

[daveak]

My best guess: Apple was trying to hike fees and milk them some more - and since JCP are already not doing great, they had to call it quits.

What fees? Apple Pay is just contactless payment, you can accept it without even knowing Apple exist.

 

[farewelwilliams]

My best guess: Apple was trying to hike fees and milk them some more - and since JCP are already not doing great, they had to call it quits.

it's more likely that using Apple pay prevents JCP from gathering purchase data since Apple Pay encrypts it

 

[Intellectua1]

This probably had something to do with the lack of usage or the terminals/transactions costing them money and it wasn't worth it to them. It's not like teens shop at JC Penny anyway so I'd bet low usage.
The fact that this guy felt the need to take it to Twitter is weird, does he really think using his credit card is not safe anymore because I can bet he swipes that way more than he can use Apple Pay. Get over it dude.

 

[44267547]

JC Penny is on their way out all together at some point, even though this is kind of an odd move to remove Apple Pay, I’d still be interested to know officially why they did remove Apple Pay altogether.

(Unrelated, but two of the three JC Penny’s in my region have closed their stores.)

 

[justiny]

They’re probably trying to keep as much air in the life raft as possible for as long as possible.

For whatever reason for removing Apple Pay will save them money, that’s what they’re going to do.

I’m a little surprised we haven’t seen much more of this.

 

[macfacts]

Not surprising that iPhone is losing features (headphone jack, 32bit support, apple pay).

 

[Carnegie]

I suspect Apple will see some push back from other credit card issuers because of Apple Card. I'm sure some of them aren't too happy about it.

I wouldn't assume this is because of that, but if JCPenney's card was usable with Apple Pay that could be the reason. I can see Apple Card becoming the default credit card used with Apple Pay for many people, significantly reducing the use of cards issued by others. Perhaps JCPenney thinks that, if people have to pull out a physical card (instead of just using Apple Pay), some will use their JCPenney card instead of their default Apple Pay card.

 

[bobob]

Not surprising that iPhone is losing features (headphone jack, 32bit support, apple pay).

It's great to see someone stepping up to lead the charge for the return of 32bit support!

 

[flygbuss]

Not surprising that iPhone is losing features (headphone jack, 32bit support, apple pay).

Works perfectly fine here. I can even use it at the tiny kiosk in my street.
You should get your facts straight..

 

[flaneur]

The fact that this guy felt the need to take it to Twitter is weird

He probably got an earful from her indoors

 

[elvisimprsntr]

Not surprising that iPhone is losing features (headphone jack, 32bit support, apple pay).

It's called progress. "Lead, follow, or get the [heck] out of the way." - General George S. Patton

As for AP, if a retailer does not want to spend the $ to upgrade payment terminals or pay the recurring fees to support contactless payments, that's their choice.

JCP won't last another year. They have been selling the same over priced [$tuff] for 100+ years.

 

[izyreal]

I remember a time when this would have been important news.

 

[cardfan]

Can’t say I use Apple Pay at stores as it is. Too much hassle. Not enough incentive from Apple. This Apple card on the way is a joke gesture from them.

 

[nitramluap]

How can a store remove Apple Pay? It’s the same contactless tech we’ve been using for 15 yrs?

Because, ‘merica.

This sort of nonsense doens’t happen in Australia because we’ve been using contactless (PayPass & PayWave) for almost a decade, and Apple Pay is simply a (better) version of this, which works on all the same terminals - from big stores to farmers’ markets. I haven’t used cash here for over two years since I’ve had the Apple Watch with Apple Pay.

The situation in the USA is a bit of a mess. Last time I was there I used Apple Pay where I could, but many places required me to *sign* for a purchase - my card didn’t even have a signature on it (shows how often I use it), so I had to sign it first!

 

[haruhiko]

I'm not sure about the situation in the US but here in Hong Kong I can use Apple Pay in whatever wireless credit card terminal I see in any store, even for the terminal that does not have any mark for Apple Pay. It's just NFC contactless payment. I don't even need to tell the cashier I'm using Apple Pay. Just tell them I'm paying contactless is OK. I think having a wireless terminal that does NOT support Apple Pay is actually much more difficult.

 

[dotKevinWong]

What fees? Apple Pay is just contactless payment, you can accept it without even knowing Apple exist.

Apple charges a 0.15% fee to payment networks which often gets passed down to Merchants even though Apple says it doesn't charge merchants any fees. And Apple Pay isn't just contactless, it generates a secure authorization code for that specific purchase instead of the CC number.

 

[4jasontv]

Can’t say I use Apple Pay at stores as it is. Too much hassle. Not enough incentive from Apple. This Apple card on the way is a joke gesture from them.

Hassle? What hassle? It takes 2 seconds to process. The chip takes 10 seconds.

 

[srharris22]

Can’t say I use Apple Pay at stores as it is. Too much hassle. Not enough incentive from Apple. This Apple card on the way is a joke gesture from them.

Too much hassle? I could pay 3 times with AP before you get out your CC and swipe it
Literally it couldn’t be easier, but you searching through wallet or purse is?

 

[hifismith]

What fees? Apple Pay is just contactless payment, you can accept it without even knowing Apple exist.

Apple takes 0.15% of the total purchase when you use Apple Pay. I believe that’s on top of the credit card company’s fee.

 

[4jasontv]

Apple takes 0.15% of the total purchase when you use Apple Pay. I believe that’s on top of the credit card company’s fee.

Where did you get this? Apple says they don’t charge the merchant any fees.